Just had an e-mail from the Marie stating we are now subject to a hosepipe ban.
Not surprised had next to no rain for the last couple of months., and none forcast for the next couple of weeks.
All water butts are now empty.
This is in normally rain drenched Normandy.
Andy
Had a couple from SAUR (our place is in 56, but it’s a maison secondaire)
No watering veggie plots during the day
No watering gardens, washing cars or the outside of your house.
I am assuming that I can use water which is already in the water butt but that won’t go very far.
Complete restriction here, and messages from maire to please try to save water. Our reservoir is empty, sources are mainly dry, and the commune is having to buy in water from elsewhere.
And we have a major water war between the dairy farmer and the beef farmer as to who is entitled to take the tiny amount of water that flows into our fountain every day. Dairy farmer increased his herd this year, and we do not have the water for them and he refused to put in a rainwater collection system as feels he should just be able to pump water out for free.
Plus squabbles between them and the rest of us trying to keep our veg plots alive, and a local man who is desperate that the local crayfish can survive. Manon de Sources has nothing on the bad feeling here.
I creep out with my cans early in the morning…bumped into the maire this morning and he was practically in tears from trying to explain to people that “WE HAVE NO WATER”.
Meanwhile our mare is evaporating fast, as source has dried up, and we fear for our fish.
Difficult times in so many areas… I’d like my daughter to visit as she has been nicknamed “the bringer of rain”…
Fingers crossed that some rain does drop soon… not necessarily for us but for those with veg gardens etc… and (like Jane) fish etc…
This dryness might well be something we all need to plan for… OH is looking at water butts… something we’ve never bothered with in France but used to good effect in UK when we were on well water.
That seems spectacularly short-sighted. A question of €€€ perhaps?
I reckon farmers will all have to rethink their water supplies and Jane’s farmer sounds a right thickie…
Mind you… those with swimming pools could do well to think about secondary supply to keep the levels and continue usage… especially if they’ve got gites… folk can be very terse when they want to swim and find they can’t (it’s happened in our village this year for the first time I can think of…)
We have a disused well on our property.
Apparently It used to be the sole source of water for our hamlet.
I am giving serious thought to repairing it and putting in a pump as it is some distance from the property.
Times change
Could be a good idea… but all wells can come under the ban/restrictions (if in place).
(Not a lot of people know that ) sorry, it’s me doing a Michael Caine…
EDIT I only found that out by chance, as I have a well here too…
That’s all right Stella
I don’t want to blow the bloody doors off
That’s worth knowing, as it might have a bit impact on my decision.
If we had a well we’d be on it like a shot!! You need to check permissions, but what a wonderful resource… (and yes they can be restricted, but depends on the local hydrology)
Our farmer votes Le Pen. Need I say more. He thinks he is a superior being and is entitled to do what he likes on his land and damn the environmental or local consequences. Why should he pay anything (there are partial grants) for a rainwater harvesting system, despite it being a condition of the planning permission for his new barn! As I said our local water wars are rather heated!!
Nope… dafty… we have a neighbour who is allowed to use “our” well, but the mairie were not aware of his hidden pipework and when they found out, during excavations… he found himself on the watch-it list…
Water shortages are a problem across the whole country one way or another…
Frankly, it will depend on the hydrology (as Jane says).
Having a working well can be good for the garden etc etc… but not simply as a way around restrictions. If the well is suitably placed it could be a real asset which might/might not come under the same restrictions as other agricultural stuff…
certainly worth investigating… as much for the water quality as anything else…
Same here in 11. It does only apply to potable water though. We have a well in the front garden which is still giving water and collect grey water from use in the house to water the back. Just the fruit and veg though, and a physalis bought this year which is not established yet. Well it is a fruit .
It’s rained quite a bit in the last 18 hours, probably at least 4cm. That has filled up the empty water buts and put another 15cm or so onto the level in the well. It’s only quite shallow anyway as we have granite quite close to the surface, so that extra 15cm will go a long way.
Our restrictions started in May and are due to finish at the end of October but I just can’t see how given there’s been no significant rainfall for several months.
We’ve just got a 300l one - vaguely thinking about replacing it/adding a 1000l one.
Our ordinance stated only potable water sources were under restriction, and as ours isn’t, it isn’t.
Your local ordinance may be different, so it’s worth checking.
Ours is just potable water
We have two 300l ones connected to the roof drainage. We’ve been thinking of getting a few 1000l ones as well. There’s a local food processing company that is selling off those 1000l plastic cubes in metal cages you see the farmers use. Only €40 each, so I’ll probably bet a few. Already have a pump.
That’s exactly the same terms as ours.