Worst drought in decades will be ‘the new normal’ in Europe, experts warn

Europe’s most severe drought in decades is hitting homes, factories, farmers and freight across the continent, as experts warn drier winters and searing summers fuelled by global heating mean water shortages will become “the new normal”.

- Jon Henley and Guardian staff

The European Drought Observatory has calculated that 45% of the EU’s territory was under drought warning by mid-July, with 13% on red alert, prompting the European Commission to warn of a “critical” situation in multiple regions.

Conditions have deteriorated since as repeated heatwaves roll across the continent. In France, the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, last week activated a crisis unit to tackle a drought the weather service Météo-France described as the country’s worst since records began in 1958.

More than 100 French municipalities have no running drinking water and are being supplied by truck, the green transition minister, Christophe Béchu, said, adding: “We are going to have to get used to episodes of this type. Adaptation is no longer an option, it’s an obligation.”

With surface soil humidity the lowest ever recorded and July rainfall 85% lower than usual, water restrictions including hosepipe and irrigation bans are in place in 93 of 96 mainland departments, with 62 classified as “in crisis”.

France’s agriculture minister warned the corn harvest was likely to be more than 18% lower than last year, while farmers’ unions say a shortage of fodder as a result of the drought could lead to significant milk shortages in the autumn and winter.

The electricity utility EDF last week was forced to reduce output from one of its nuclear reactors in south-western France because of high water temperatures in the Garonne River and has issued similar warnings for reactors on the Rhône.