Drought in France. Banning the sale of garden ponds in the Eastern Pyrenees

The ban, which will take effect on May 10, is intended to apply to swimming pools erected in the park without the need for construction work, without obtaining permits and without the risk of an increase in property taxes.

“If the sale of swimming pools is not banned, people may be tempted to fill them despite orders to save water,” Christophe Piceau said in a Friday radio interview with RTL.

In the section on the border with Spain, there is already a ban on filling private pools, watering gardens or washing cars. A record-breaking drought has led to water restrictions in more than two dozen French departments since early spring, and a crisis situation in two departments. The frigid summer of 2022 was followed by the driest winter since 1959. Precipitation was not much below normal allowing groundwater resources to replenish. In March, Picchu said that the county authorities, when the need arose, “should not hesitate to quickly issue decisions that would limit local water consumption.”

As the Minister for the Environment and Regional Cohesion noted in an interview on Friday, “People have to get used to the fact that global warming is happening now.” He announced that new rules for water use in drought-stricken areas of the country would be published in the coming days.

Restrictions on filling swimming pools, washing cars and watering gardens due to drought were in place in France last year.

Neighboring Spain is also experiencing a severe drought. There too, in response to the deteriorating situation, water use restrictions have been imposed.