‘War for Water’: The battle against drought reaches the luxurious swimming pools of southern France

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The flowery medieval hill town of Callian, former home of the late fashion designer Christian Dior, proved so attractive to wealthy arrivals that alongside its 4,000 inhabitants, it boasts 1,000 private swimming pools.

However, the mayor of the southern French city, François Cavallier, says the influx of second-home owners and tourists must stop or risk drying out the city as the region suffers a two-year drought.

“We have to dissuade people from coming here,” he said. “This won’t last forever, but for now it would be irresponsible to draw people here and then run out of water.”

Dry weather in a swathe of southern France has particularly affected Callian and the other hill towns around Fayence, where visitors have long flocked to enjoy a slice of Provençal art de vivre.

The drought has forced the mayors of nine cities in the area to take drastic measures such as water rationing to maintain supplies and even banning the construction of new houses and swimming pools for five years.

These measures have cast a shadow on the area’s key tourism industry, which supports the economy but burdens scarce water resources in the hottest time of the year. This tension is only likely to get worse as the climate warms.

In the hill towns, with water levels in the river already near lows not usually seen until July, individuals have been limited to 150 liters of water a day to try to avoid disruptions when the local population doubles to around 60,000 in the summer.

While the nine villages of Fayence are particularly vulnerable thanks to their hilly geography, the dry winter following last summer’s drought has left the arc of towns along the Mediterranean coast from Perpignan to Nice facing a water crisis.

Farmers and vineyards compete for water with the campgrounds, hotels and golf courses that attract tourists. The French who live here full-time grumble about luxurious holiday residences that use far more water than ordinary houses to maintain their gardens and swimming pools.

The mayor of Châteauneuf-Grasse near Cannes told Liberation newspaper that the biggest consumers of water last summer were “VIPs including prime ministers and royalty” – in an apparent reference to Silvio Berlusconi and the former Belgian king, who they have houses there.

The media and local authorities call it France’s “war over water”. Richard Evence, the prefect – or state representative – in the Var region, puts it more diplomatically: “There are conflicts about use.”

There are real doubts whether this area of ​​southern France, which has experienced decades of strong population growth, can continue on the same developmental path as climate change pushes temperatures higher.

People move here to fulfill their dream of owning a house with a pool and garden to enjoy the more than 300 days of sunshine a year, and the economy is largely based on tourism and construction.

Evence said the Var department would soon launch a large study to analyze its water needs and resources in an effort to plan future infrastructure and water use. “There is a real debate about whether we can continue as we have,” she said.

In Perpignan, the water shortage was so bad in March that the church revived a centuries-old tradition of holding a ceremonial procession to pray for rain.

Private pools have become a sticking point: France boasts 3.4 million, second only to the United States. Municipalities where the drought has hit hard have begun to impose limits on their filling, while others have banned the sale of above-ground pools.

A hotel executive in Nice has been pilloried for suggesting not to ask tourists to contribute to water-saving efforts as it would spoil their enjoyment on the Riviera.

The region’s water infrastructure was conceived largely in the 1950s and 1960s, but is now being challenged by droughts and rising temperatures. In addition to the natural rivers fed by the Alps, the system is based on artificial canals and artificial lakes built for hydroelectricity by the state-owned electricity company EDF, which also act as reservoirs.

Emma Haziza, a hydrologist and climate change adaptation expert, said Provence and the Pyrenees Orientales – the area around Perpignan on the border with Spain – have gotten much drier in recent years and weather patterns are changing in ways not yet well understood.

“Today people are waiting for the next rain, but it won’t solve the problem,” he said. “We need a whole new approach to water management to get less out of the ground.”

Such considerations are what convinced René Ugo, longtime mayor of Seillans, that a ban on all new construction was necessary.

Since last summer, the city of 2,700 — where a third of homes are vacation homes or seasonal rentals — has been forced to rely on water delivered by trucks. Water agency officials remotely monitored every home’s consumption last summer and slapped the worst offenders who scoff at flow-reducing plugs.

“This year is even worse than last year,” said Ugo. “If it doesn’t rain, we will have water outages this summer.”

To cope, the nine cities, including Seillans, are preparing a system to send text alerts to people to warn them if the water will be cut off. Other restrictions are being introduced, such as a ban on car washing and limits on the hours in which people can water lawns and gardens.

However, not everyone welcomes the new approaches.

A city businessman who declined to be named said he wished the mayor of Seillans would stop talking about drought, since it was bad for tourism. Others argue that the government should have anticipated problems and invested more in water infrastructure such as connection to reservoirs.

Laurent Largillet, the owner of the Center real estate agency in Fayence, said politicians were going too far and predicted the building ban would be challenged in court.

“I think they are alarmists in hopes of getting people to slow down their water consumption,” she said. “But it’s very damaging.”