Two towns in France still need water to be delivered to them on an agricultural trailer, as their local reservoir levels remain exceptionally low after summer drought conditions.

Ambrugeat and Davignac in Corrèze, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, received water deliveries in the back of a van, and authorities were forced to divert water from one reservoir to another as the basins were too slow to fill up since the summer.

Cédric Neuville, the only employee of the Ambrugeat water company, has to go daily to a nearby water source to bring enough water to his town.

He told France 3: “I have to come every day at the moment, and I’ve been coming since July 18. It’s calmed down a bit because there are fewer inhabitants and the sources have increased a bit, but before, we had to do this three or four times a day.

Read also: Drought map: Find out which water restrictions apply in your department

The inhabitants of the region are spread over 3,000 hectares spread over different hamlets. Their water comes from different reservoirs and water networks. Since 2018, an agricultural trailer has been needed periodically to act as a mobile water cistern, transporting water from one source to another, to supplement any reserves whose sources are running out.

However, the fact that the operation will continue until November is unprecedented. Prior to 2022, water levels in the region would replenish by September at the latest, even after a dry summer.

Read more: France needs to manage water better, researchers say after summer droughts

From now on, the mayor of Ambrugeat asks that the water networks be connected, so that they can contribute to supplying each tank when one is missing.

Michel Saugeras said: “Someone has to help us because we can’t go on like this. Look how much it costs. Already our employee spends his days transporting water, plus the price of gasoline to transport this water, and the time it takes… it’s enormous.

The neighboring town of Davignac is experiencing similar problems.

She manages to supply her empty reserves with more distant water sources, but the method is costly and time-consuming. This prevents the municipality from focusing on something else, explains Mayor Patrice Barbe.

He said, “I tell you, on September 21, we made five convoys of 2.9 m3 tankers, and on September 23, we made four more convoys. It’s a job we should hire someone to do, but you can’t hire someone just to do that under these conditions.

He now hopes the winter will be snowy and bring more water, “because if not, I fear the worst for next year,” he says.

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New addressing systems for homes and businesses, imposed by a European directive to standardize them for GPS, are now in place everywhere in France.

The obligation for municipalities to maintain databases of addresses in a standard format was reinforced by a measure of the Ministry of the Environment’s far-reaching “3DS” law, passed by parliament in February.

Read more: Why were the French so wary of street numbering?

The power to appoint now belongs to the municipalities

Encouraged by the yellow vests demonstrations, one of the purposes of the law was to give more power to local municipalities, including responsibility for naming and numbering roads and localities.

It follows a decade that has seen all the communes in France slowly change addresses in order to be able to adapt to the standard computer forms of a common database.

This has led to a proliferation of road signs, with old locality signs having new road names planted next to them, even where the road is called ‘Road to (place)‘

Business reasons

Originally intended to speed up the deployment of GPS maps and navigational aids, the change also allows the government to sell addresses to commercial companies and requires utility companies, such as EDF, to open their database of addresses. addresses to competitors if customers give their consent.

In October, EDF sent letters to all its customers asking them if they agreed to these details being transmitted.

Read more: ‘Ghost Zones’: The places in France where no one lives

Different systems in town or rural

Government recommendations to municipalities on how they should manage their address databases are still in place and have led to two different systems, one for cities and one for rural areas.

In cities, almost all addresses are numeric, with the first house in a road being numbered one and continuing down the street with odd numbers on one side and even numbers on the other.

In rural areas, almost all municipalities have followed a metric system, where houses are numbered according to the distance in meters that separates them from an intersection.

The house number and the street name will not replace the historic place

The system ended centuries of tradition in France, where many rural addresses were simple localities.

Usually it was either the name of a former occupant (At John’s was popular), or describing a local feature, such as The rocks.

This constituted a simple three-line address system, with the recipient’s name on the first line, the locality on the second line, and the postcode and commune on the third.

Now a fourth line, giving the road name and number, needs to be added, which means most rural addresses are the recipient’s name, place, number and road, then the postcode and the municipality.

There was virtually no opposition to the changes, apart from a few cafe gossip about how silly Parisians are when trying to find people in the countryside, or anecdotes about GPS driving delivery trucks in dead ends.

La Poste warns that it will not deliver to non-compliant establishments

The modification ordinances were sent directly by the prefects to the mayors, and not transmitted by the former general tipswhich operated at the departmental level.

Residents and businesses had to bear the cost of changing addresses on stationery and taking the time to change them on all electronic forms, although advances in technology meant that many institutions, such as banks, did so automatically.

Most of the municipalities, which had to pay for the new road signs, ordered new house number plates to be given to the inhabitants at the same time.

However, the courts have ruled that they are not obliged to do so.

Residents must clearly show their new numbers at the entrance to their property.

La Poste, which is slowly trying to reduce its workforce by not replacing retiring postal workers and women, has warned that it will not deliver properties that do not.

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[Article updated on October 24 at 14:10 with further details of the damage in Eure.]

Several homes were destroyed in villages in Hauts-de-France and Normandy, as two mini-tornadoes hit the area during storms yesterday (October 23).

In Pas-de-Calais, the firefighters reported that there had been a “huge meteorological phenomenon centered on the town of Bihucourt in particular”, but also on Ervillers and Hendecourt-lès-Cagnicourt.

The episode brought “high winds” and “tornado-like” gusts to Bihucourt. One person was slightly injured.

Some 150 residents – about half the population – had to be evacuated and many will not be able to return home for some time, trees and overhead cables have fallen and some houses have completely collapsed. Tiles were torn from the roof of the church and chairs inside were smashed and the holy water font was knocked to the ground.

TORNADO confirmed! First video of the phenomenon impacting the town of Buhicourt in Pas-De-Calais. Extensive damage is reported. #France #thunderstorms #Tornado

Credit: Robin G. pic.twitter.com/89wAGa15w2

— Nahel Belgherze (@WxNB_) October 23, 2022

Other buildings also had their roofs torn off and almost all suffered damage.

“It lasted 10 seconds […] All of a sudden, we saw the clouds start to swirl,” Benoît-Vincent Caille, the mayor of the village, told BFMTV.

A resident said the tornado looked like “a bomb” exploding as it ripped the roof off his house, but “the most important thing is that we are alive”.

A nearby house narrowly escaped a large willow tree that fell when nearby scaffolding crashed into it.

Another resident said that when he looked outside, he could see trash cans and tiles flying through the air, and the branches snapping off his neighbour’s tree.

Jean-Jacques Cottel, mayor of Bapaume, a town near Bihucourt, said Météo France “was announcing thunderstorms but not this tornado. We were caught completely off guard.

Imposing tornadic supercell over the south of Pas-de-Calais this Sunday, October 23, seen by its eastern flank from the department of #Northat a time when the #tornado was hitting #Bihucourt. Incessant lightning and mammatus south of the mesocyclone (left in photo). © Keraunos pic.twitter.com/ENxu4SyRQx

— Keraunos (@KeraunosObs) October 23, 2022

“We couldn’t believe our eyes. […] the village was destroyed. It was a very localized phenomenon.

“Almost two-thirds of the houses have been destroyed. We saw people in disarray, in distress, but also calm. The situation was surreal, apocalyptic.

About half of the streets in the village are currently impassable because they are covered with tiles, bricks and wood.

#Severe weather François-Xavier Bieuville, sub-prefect of #Douaywent this evening to Masny and Erchin, in the presence of the mayors and the @Sdis59, to ensure the direction of the operations. On this occasion, he thanked all the services and partners mobilized. pic.twitter.com/ggQy2NyGWW

– Prefecture of the Hauts-de-France and North region (@prefet59) October 23, 2022

On the Conty side, near Amiens (Somme), “several houses and infrastructures were damaged”, indicated the town, specifying that in Ô-de-Selle, “about sixty buildings” were affected.

New images posted on Facebook show considerable damage in the municipality of Conty in the Somme department. A possible #tornado would be at the origin of these destructions. Horrible afternoon in Hauts-de-France.

Credit: Jacky Demarcy pic.twitter.com/kOY6K4KXaL

— Nahel Belgherze (@WxNB_) October 23, 2022

No one was injured but a dozen households had to leave their homes and dozens of people suffered power cuts.

The Somme and the Pas-de-Calais had been placed on yellow vigilance for thunderstorms yesterday, but such a violent episode had not been expected.

In the Eure, several roofs were torn off by the storms, in particular in Pont-Audemer-Beuzeville, where the firefighters attended around thirty incidents. Some 3,000 homes were also left without power overnight, with work to fix the problem continuing this morning.

Wind gusts of up to 136 km / h were recorded in Beuzeville, south-east of Honfleur.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin expressed his “solidarity with the inhabitants of the municipalities concerned”.

The East and the North of France suffered heavy storms. Several municipalities in the Pas-de-Calais caused by a tornado, caused significant damage. Violent bad weather in the Somme.
Solidarity with the inhabitants of the municipalities supported. @ Prefect62 and @ prefect80 are on site.

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 23, 2022

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France recognizes the natural disaster in 163 municipalities in the country

France has recognized the state of natural disaster (‘natural disaster‘) in 163 municipalities following significant storm damage between October 2019 and September 2022.

A decree of September 19 in the Official Journal recognizes the state of natural disaster in 128 municipalities spread over 39 departments, following the storms that occurred at that time.

Another, from September 20, recognizes the state in 35 other municipalities in 12 departments. This decree came into force in response to the damage caused by severe drought and soil rehydration between July 2019 and December 2021.

Each recognizes that the damage was caused by floods, landslides and landslides, as well as wind, partly due to the effects of drought and ongoing soil rehydration.

A state of natural disaster (natural disaster) is an official statute, in place since 1982, by which the State recognizes the damage caused by natural phenomena (drought, violent storms, floods, mudslides, avalanches or earthquakes). It is sometimes colloquially abbreviated as “cat nat”.

Declaring it officially means that claims from insurance companies can be submitted under this clause, making it easier to reimburse those who have suffered damage.

If you wish to claim damages under the status, you have 10 days from the declaration of the status to declare it to your insurance company.

Read more: French “natural disaster” insurance system: how to apply

The departments covered include: Bouches-du-Rhône, Cantal, Finistère, Gard, Gers, Gironde, Haute-Garonne, Ille-et-Villaine, Indre-et-Loire, Loire, Somme, Var, and many more.

The full list of services recognized under the decrees can be viewed on the service-public.fr website.

These last decrees come after the ‘natural disastere‘ status was declared in June this year, after mudslides and heavy hailstorms caused extensive damage in the Dordogne region (however, hail damage is not specifically covered by natural disaster clauses, but by separate home insurance).

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A herd of sheep will criss-cross the city of Lyon for three days, in a symbolic attempt to reconcile the urban environment with the natural world.

The project is led by La Bergerie Urbaine, an urban agriculture group that combines itinerant grazing and educational activities within the Lyon Metropolis.

The herd is made up of 24 sheep, which will travel 24 kilometers through Greater Lyon, in three days and two nights from September 29 to October 1. They will cross three municipalities, and 14 parks and gardens.

The trip is dubbed a ‘urban transhumance‘ (urban transhumance), and called ‘The Little Transhumance‘.

The word “transhumance” refers to the seasonal agricultural practice of moving livestock from one region to another, usually from highlands to lowlands in summer and winter.

Read more: Calls for French transhumance to be recognized as a UNESCO heritage site

During the three-night trip, residents can enjoy environmental and cultural activities on topics such as biodiversity, food and agriculture. These will be organized in partnership with several local associations to promote natural spaces.

There will be daytime entertainment and “aperitif” sessions in the evening, from 4:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The complete list of events and registration details are online on the La Bergerie Urbaine website here.

Up to 30 people will be able to walk alongside the herd and participate in the event, help the shepherds coordinate the herd and exchange more with them on socio-environmental issues. You can apply on the La Bergerie Urbaine website here.

The route is as follows:

• Day 1 (10.30 a.m. to 6 p.m.): Vénissieux to Parc de Parilly
• Day 2: (10.30 a.m. to 6 p.m.): Parc de Parilly to Parc de Gerland
• Day 3: (10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.): Parc de Parilly in Vieux Lyon – Place des Minimes

In a press release, La Bergerie Urbaine said: “Since 2019, we have carried out more than 160 itinerant grazing outings in 29 different municipalities, covering more than 560 km in the Lyon metropolitan area.

“In addition to these events, we manage 120,000 m² of meadows on a daily basis on six sites and five municipalities in the Lyon Metropolis.

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Twenty-seven years ago, a twinning relationship was established between Athlone and the French town of Châteaubriant.

Last weekend, the Mayor of the Municipal Borough of Athlone Moate, Ballymore man Cllr Vinny McCormack, met the Mayor of Châteaubriant and the President of the Community of Communes of Châteaubriant-Derval, Alain Hunault to renew the twinning between the two municipalities.

Cllr McCormack was joined by Deputy Mayor Cllr Frankie Keena, District Manager Jackie Finney, Athlone Town Twinning Committee Chairman Niamh Dalby and a delegation from the Town Twinning Committee.

The visit to the twinning coincided with the Foire De Béré in Châteaubriant, a historic fair that has taken place every year since 1050.

Cllr McCormack and members of the Athlone twinning committee were welcomed by the Mayor of Chateaubriant on Friday September 9th at a reception to celebrate 27 years of twinning between Athlone and Chateaubriant.

The event also celebrated 40 years of twinning between Radevormwald in Germany and Châteaubriant and the three delegations reflected on the importance of creating links between communities, cities and regions in Europe.

On Saturday September 10, Cllr McCormack and the Athlone delegation attended the inauguration of the De Béré Fair.

The fair is considered one of the oldest in France and its origins officially date back to 1050. It takes place over four days and attracts 40 to 50,000 visitors for agricultural and commercial exhibitions on a 10 hectare site.

Cllr McCormack said he was honored to represent Athlone and expressed his gratitude to Mayor Hunault and all of his officials.

State-controlled telephone company Orange has been allowed to start removing copper wires in some municipalities from the end of 2024, with the whole country to be disconnected by 2030.

Orange must work with other suppliers

Initial plans to remove all copper telephone wires were criticized by other operators, including SFR, Free and Bouygues Telecom, as being too slow and giving Orange a commercial advantage in switching to fiber optics.

Regulator Arcep has asked Orange to respond and has now approved the plan, with minor adjustments, to ensure that all operators are consulted commune by commune as the dismantling proceeds.

Read more: Unhappy mobile and fiber customers after rapid deployment in France

Most copper connections are in rural France

Only municipalities fully connected to the fiber optic network will be in the first wave of disconnections.

About 20 million households in France still have wired copper connections, used for fixed telephony, ADSL internet and telephony.

Orange claims that 70% of the population already has access to the more modern fiber optic wires installed on telephone sets – but this figure skims over the fact that most of the remaining 30% live in a vast swath of rural areas.

More money to install fiber

Local authorities are responsible for providing fiber optic cable to rural communities, but many have fallen far behind.

Parts of southern Charente, for example, which were first told they would be connected in 2017 and then it would be by the end of 2021, have now been told there is no date for the date on which they will be connected.

There is no more money from the ministry for the deployment of fiber optics.

A deadline of 2025 to cover the entire department has been set in 2019.

Orange reassures municipalities with copper wires

A spokesperson for Orange told La Connexion that people who still have copper wires and no date for installing fiber optic connections in their towns shouldn’t worry.

“Nothing will be done to cut the copper line until there are alternatives in place,” he said.

“In the vast majority of places the alternative will be fiber optic cable connections, but in a few hard-to-reach areas we may have to go through 4G or 5G mobile phone connections, which will be significantly faster. than ADSL.”

Fiber optic lines are better for the environment

Orange says the end of the copper-wire telephone network in France will save the company 500 million euros a year.

He says fiber-optic equipment is more robust in stormy weather, although in most areas he shares old telephone sets with copper wires.

In homes, fiber optic connections provide a way to get reliable television or movie streaming services over the Internet that ADSL lines cannot.

Internet connections should also be much faster and easier to use. There are also environmental benefits, says Orange.

He claims that Internet connections using fiber optic lines use less than 0.5 watts of electricity per line, while ADSL connections use 1.8 watts.

Orange criticized for poor maintenance of remaining wires

Opponents of phasing out copper too quickly say it has big advantages in rural areas, especially since phones connected to it continue to work during power cuts.

Fiber optic phones must be connected through boxes that must be plugged into a household’s electrical system.

Last year Orange, which had the legal responsibility to maintain copper wire telephone service until every home in France had an alternative, was strongly criticized by Arcep for letting it fall into disrepair. .

Its legal obligation ended this year, but the firm promises to maintain maintenance until at least next year until alternative solutions are put in place.

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Residents of 11 areas across four regions of France will now be able to ‘opt in’ to receiving advertising material at home as part of a new three-year trial to reduce waste and waste collection costs.

If successful, the trial will be expanded to three additional areas in February 2023. To participate, residents of these areas must put a sticker on their mailbox that reads “Oui pub” (yes to advertising) to indicate that they agree to receive unaddressed leaflets, catalogs and other commercial documents.

The “Yes pub” system will replace the “Stop pub” stickers, which means residents will participate rather than not.

The aim is to reduce the amount of unwanted advertising material and paper that people receive and then inevitably have to throw away, often without even reading it.

The trial is expected to last three years and, if successful, will be rolled out across the country.

In total, approximately 2.5 million inhabitants are concerned, the areas participating in the experiment being located in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, New-Aquitaine, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur and Corsica.

#YesAd | From tomorrow, the automatic distribution of advertising leaflets will be prohibited in mailboxes.

This experiment, tested in 13 municipalities, is a concrete action for more sobriety and less waste. pic.twitter.com/xQOYb9YA8t

— Christophe Bechu (@ChristopheBechu) August 31, 2022

The device was first voted in the framework of the “climate and resilience” law of August 2021 according to an idea suggested by the Citizen’s Convention for the Climate (CCC).

The main objectives are to reduce waste from individual homes and to reduce the costs of waste collection and treatment in municipalities. The idea of ​​the CCC said that the system would also help to “regulate advertising to stop the incentives for over-consumption”.

In theory, companies and other distributors of the material will be prohibited from depositing mail in mailboxes that do not bear the “Oui pub” sticker.

Nearly 900,000 tonnes of printed matter

According to a report by the Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe), “more than 894,000 tons of unaddressed advertising [were distributed in 2019] a large part of which was thrown away without being read, ”said the Ministry of Ecology.

Shops and businesses have started distributing “Oui pub” stickers to neighborhood residents to encourage them to stick them on their letterboxes and opt in to the new system. Posters have also started going up, with QR codes that allow residents to order their own stickers.

The new regime will be judged on its success by four factors:

• Environmental impact – Does it change the amount of print advertising that is thrown away and the amount of paper used?
• Economic impact – Does it allow municipalities to save money on waste collection or does it negatively impact those who would otherwise distribute the material?
• Behavioral impact – Are people embracing measurement and changing their behavior towards other forms of advertising such as signing up for digital newsletters instead?
• Understanding, adoption and satisfaction – How many people are using the new system, is it popular, is the community happy with it?

The “Stop pub” sticker was created in 2004.

THE YES PUB REPLACES THE STOP PUB!

From 01/09, it will be necessary to have the mention OUI PUB on his mailbox to continue to receive unprinted advertising material.
Info https://t.co/jxrBPwIkKg

Lucas Frangelle@GreenGrenoble22 @GrenobleAlpes pic.twitter.com/heqRwKD60T

— City of Grenoble (@VilledeGrenoble) August 30, 2022

The complete list of municipalities or waste disposal groups testing the system from September 1:

• Alpes-de-Haute-Provence – Ubaye Valley Serre-Ponçon.
• Alpes-Maritimes – UNIVALOM (Joint Syndicate for the treatment and recovery of waste from the city of Antibes).
• Ardèche – SICTOBA (Intermunicipal union for the collection and treatment of household waste in Lower Ardèche).
• Ardèche and Drôme – SYTRAD (Ardèche Drôme waste treatment union).
• Haute-Garonne – City of Ramonville-Saint-Agne.
• Gironde – City of Bordeaux.
• Gironde – SMICVAL (Joint intermunicipal collection and recovery association Libournais Haute Gironde).
• Isère – Grenoble Alpes Métropole.
• Lot-et-Garonne – Agglomeration of Agen.
• Meurthe-et-Moselle – Metropolis of Greater Nancy.
• Yvelines – City of Sartrouville.

From February 1, 2023

• Dawn – Troyes Champagne Metropolis.
• Corse du Sud and Haute-Corse – SYVADEC (Corsican Waste Recovery Union)
• North – Dunkirk Grand Littoral.

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The French government has a system of alert levels to protect against the effects of drought, with various restrictions introduced depending on the severity.

In this article we show the overall alert levels at departmental level, more localized maps to show possible alert levels in the communes and also break down what each alert level means and what restrictions are in place.

General map of departmental alert

Our map below shows the general alert levels in each department, ranging from zero restrictions to code 4, or crisis level. This map is accurate as of August 24.

Please note that the municipalities of each department may have a different alert level from the general departmental level. While in one area the alert level might be code 1, in the next town it might be code 4. You can see a more detailed breakdown on the Propluvia drought alert website of the government here.

You can click the search icon at the top left of the map and type in your department name to highlight it.

Key:

• No code – No restrictions
• Code: 1 – warning (vigilance)
• Code: 2 – alert (to alert)
• Code: 3 – heightened alert (heightened alert)
• Code: 4 – crisis (crisis)

The latest updates include:

• Ardèche – Areas downgraded to ‘enhanced alert level’

Code 1: warning level

This is the lowest alert level.

• Individuals and businesses are encouraged to reduce their water consumption, but it is not mandatory.
• Information on reducing water use and drought management should be shared by local and county authorities – you can receive leaflets by post describing this.

The map below reflects the departments where code 1 alerts are in place in many communes.

Code 2: alert level

• Bans could be introduced on watering gardens, green spaces or golf courses at certain times
• Bans may be introduced on washing cars at certain times
• Limits could be placed on the amount of water used to fill pools
• The use of water for agricultural means is limited
• Measures are in place to prohibit the opening of the valves

The map below reflects the departments where code 2 alerts are in place in many communes.

Code 3: heightened alert

• Stricter limits on watering gardens, green spaces or golf courses and in some cases these acts are prohibited altogether
• Stricter limits are placed on car washing and in some cases it is banned altogether
• The use of water for agricultural means is still limited

The map below reflects the departments where code 3 alerts are in place in many communes.

Code 4: crisis

• The use of water is authorized only for necessary needs, including for drinking, health, civil security, cleaning
• No watering of gardens, green spaces or golf courses. There are sometimes exceptions for trees, shrubs and vegetable gardens at certain times
• Ban on washing cars
• Prohibition to fill swimming pools
• Prohibition of water use for most agricultural practices

The map below reflects the departments where code alerts are in place in many communes.

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