French environment minister Segolene Royal went on television last week
to announce emergency measures to combat the country鈥檚 four-year drought
and to launch a campaign urging people to conserve water.
A heat wave swept Europe in the middle of this month and the rising
thermometers pushed France鈥檚 drought firmly up the political agenda. Temperatures
in Paris reached 31 掳C, the highest in May since the end of the Second
World War, while Amsterdam, Brussels and Berlin were as hot as Cairo. The
hottest place in France was Dax, south of Bordeaux, with a temperature of
33 掳C.
The hot spring follows an unusually dry winter in a pattern of drought
similar to that in southeast England (鈥楧own came the drought鈥�, New 女生小视频,
2 May). Royal announced a series of measures to prevent the wastage of water.
She called on the public to cut their water consumption by changing their
habits and said that studies had shown that farmers could cut their water
consumption by a third without harming their profits.
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She set up six agencies, covering the hydrological basins of the country,
to help communities threatened with a lack of drinking water, to control
the extraction of ground water and to protect the ecology of rivers. The
agencies can spend 拢3.5 billion over the next five years. In emergencies,
local authorities will be able to draw water from the state electricity
company鈥檚 dams.
Royal also announced higher fines for factories which discharge pollution
into dry rivers. Industrialists could now face fines of up to 拢100
000.
