Choosing planting

Watering your garden during a drought: what does the law say?

The golden rules for adhering to water restrictions

Contents

Modified the 7 December 2025 by Sophie 3 min. Difficulty: Beginner

Year after year, an increasing number of departments are affected by water restrictions due to recurring droughts. According to Météo France, summer 2022 was the driest ever recorded since 1959. In light of this situation, you may be wondering: is it forbidden to water? Am I allowed to water my garden, and can I at least water the vegetable patch?

Let’s take a look at the current situation to understand what restrictions are in place and how to water during a drought.

watering the garden

Difficulty

First of all, what is drought?

In normal water conditions, the development of fauna, flora, and human activities can coexist sustainably. A phenomenon of drought corresponds to a water deficit compared to a situation normally observed during the same period in the past and a negative balance between the water provided by precipitation in an area and the water consumed in that same area by fauna, flora, and human activities.

Droughts are characterised by:

their intensity: the water deficit is more or less significant compared to an average situation,
their duration: the longer the water deficit persists, the greater the impact of the drought,
and their frequency: the water deficit is exacerbated by the more or less close repetition of drought episodes.

Periods of drought can, of course, result from a lack of precipitation, but also from an overly intensive or inappropriate use of available water. When drought occurs, everyone, through their daily actions or professional practices, can contribute to preserving drinking water resources.

During periods of drought, water usage restrictions may be decided by departmental prefects to limit or suspend water uses in accordance with the article L.211-3 II-1° of the Environmental Code. The measures are adjusted according to the severity of the drought:

Vigilance status: it serves to inform and encourage individuals and professionals to save water; everyone is asked to adopt eco-responsible behaviour by using water in a measured way.
Alert: it imposes a reduction of less than 50% in withdrawals for agricultural purposes (or a ban of up to 3 days per week), measures prohibiting valve operations, water sports activities, and limits withdrawals for watering gardens, green spaces, golf courses, filling private pools, washing cars, etc.
Reinforced alert: it imposes a reduction of 50% or more in withdrawals for agricultural purposes (or a ban of 3.5 days or more per week) and more stringent limits on withdrawals for watering gardens, green spaces, golf courses, car washes, etc., up to a ban on certain withdrawals.
Crisis status: it triggers prohibitions to preserve priority uses: health, civil security, drinking water, sanitation. Water withdrawals for agriculture are then totally or partially prohibited, as well as those for many domestic or public space uses (watering floral beds, fountains, street cleaning…). For gardeners, this means a total ban on watering their gardens.

At the end of summer 2022, France is under drought alert, with 117 municipalities deprived of drinking water, and a large part of the territory on drought alert.

Situation in metropolitan France regarding drought in summer 2022 (Wikimedia commons)

What are the current restrictions in the garden?

In all cases: comply with the prefectural order restricting the use of water in force in your department. This order is displayed in town halls, which publicise it via information boards and websites. It is also available online on the prefectures’ website.

For more information, you can consult the Propluvia site, dedicated to water restriction orders. It presents the measures of suspension or limitation taken by the prefects in mainland France and Corsica. And in all cases, it is advisable to refer to the complete version of the order for all details.

In municipalities under alert, restrictions on watering times are implemented. For example, irrigation of vegetable gardens may be prohibited between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM (except sometimes for water-saving irrigation methods like drip irrigation). For watering lawns and ornamental gardens, the prohibition generally extends from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

In municipalities under reinforced alert, irrigation of vegetable gardens may also be prohibited between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM, as for ornamental gardens.

In municipalities under crisis, watering of gardens is completely prohibited.

watering garden during drought alert Even if your garden looks sad, respect the watering restrictions; water is a vital resource.

What are the risks of not adhering to water restrictions?

Failure to comply with the restrictions issued by the prefecture is far from trivial. It exposes you to a fine of €1,500, which can even rise to €3,000 in the event of a repeat offence.

For businesses, associations, and local authorities, the cost is higher with a fine that increases to €7,500.