Map of water table levels in France on 1 September 2019.
© BRGM
During the month of August, the depletion continued and most of the levels observed decreased. This drop accelerated sharply during the summer in areas that had experienced a lack of rainfall, exacerbated by strong demand. Localised thunderstorms in August only affected certain reactive water tables. There was therefore a reversal in trends in the alluvial aquifers in the plains of Alsace, the Adour (the south of New Aquitaine and the south-west of Occitanie) and in Corsica.
The groundwater levels are generally below the average levels for August. These levels reflect the low recharge volumes due to low and sometimes late rainfall in autumn and winter 2018-2019. A substantial number of reservoirs remain at moderately low to low levels. The groundwater tables of southern Alsace, Burgundy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and southern Centre-Val de Loire have worryingly low to very low levels. Only certain reactive water tables, which benefited from excess rainfall in August, have moderately high to high levels: water tables in southern Vendée, the Adour basin and Corsica.
Finally, levels are generally much lower than the levels at this time last year. However, the overall situation is not as bad as in August 2017.
