Thirsty Paris

With the lack of rain this summer, it is not a surprise that there are still many water warnings in the area. Our nearby lake, some 90 million cubic meters of it, was showing signs of shortage. The lake feeds Paris, and stops the Seine running dry (bad for tourists, boats, and drains), or at other times, from over-flowing (bad for tourists, boats, and drains).

Dry land!

On our last visit, the water was exceptionally low. This picture is of the lake bed several meters down. The black things are old tree stumps once cut before the valley (and 3 villages) was flooded and now exposed again with the soil eerily eroded away from their roots.
The fishermen still go out. They just have to pull the boats further. However, the sailing boats from our nearest port have all gone as the water is too shallow to support them any more. We can suppose only that it will all recover over winter.
There are some portions of the lake that are kept with high water. These are for the water sports areas and are protected by mini damns and gates. We also saw pumps being used to top one up. The rest, 4 meters or so from the original level, has been drunk by Paris.