Alain,

What are river levels in France and across Europe? I have read of some river levels being extraordinarily low. Do you know of any problems with drinking water? How is the snowpack in the mountains? Sorry to badger you with questions, but I wonder about things like that - we take potable water for granted in most of the developed world. I have seen and dealt with first hand how people react to loss of potable water in both the 3rd world and here in the US - loss of electricity is almost minor compared to loss of drinking water.

I live in a region of many rivers and plentiful aquifers here in the upper Mississippi River valley. Our munincipal water is safe, abundant, and inexpensive. We have a minor drought this year (perhaps not minor to local farmers), but all the local municipalities modified water intake systems about 13-14 years ago during a drought to further ensure their ability to draft water into the treatment systems. My city is also cross-connected with a small town not on the Mississippi that is on a series of deep wells, so even if the river went substantially dry, we could receive at least sustainment water (this in addition to webs of munincipal interconnections on this side of the Mississippi).

The Iowa side of this metropolitan area is another story... the major city privatized their water system over a decade ago and since then it has grown to be the water supplier for the entire county. Technical, financial, and political issues have long prevented across-river connections between the Illinois and Iowa metropolitan areas. I know enough about their operation to be concerned about lack of redundancy.

So how is the water situation in France and the rest of Europe?

Regards,

Tom