Water

Have I mentioned the water here in France ?? There appears to be water everywhere -- perhaps that is an Australian perspective ! and it could also be the season -- Spring with snow melting everywhere and unseasonal spring rains and storms.

However, I do think it is one of the big differences we are observing. In Alsace there is the Rhine, a huge river and in many places in Alsace there is water a few metres below the surface. Farmers use this for irrigation and have wells everywhere, a big pipe in the ground and they have portable pumps which they move around and connect up to irrigate. The village fishing clubs have little dams which are really a hole with the water table exposed and village water supply comes from wells not far below the surface. As we travelled from Alsace down to the South West we were amazed by the number of large flowing rivers, streams and creeks. In the mountains here in the Pyrenees and in the Massif Central there is water everywhere, just pouring off and out of the mountains, out of the ground, between the rocks, out of the grass -- all into streams then into big gurgling rivers that are running to their banks all the time at the moment. The snow is melting and the ground must absorb a lot of moisture during the winter -- now it is all released and is running happily downwards whereever it can. There are waterfalls everywhere !! We drink the water in the mountains -- fresh and cold and clear.

The water is used here in the mountains for hydro electricity and there are hydro stations regularly. There are also channels throughout the towns and villages and you can hear urgling water as you walk through the villages. The water is diverted higher up and runs through the village, there are public taps and in the old villages here there are old public laundries -- the water runs into a big long trough/wash basin and out the other end. The whole structure has a roof and the trough has a sloping side -- that is where the washing was done in the old days. They must have been tough -- the water is freezing !! Stock watering troughs are similar -- they are in the villages as well and throughout the mountains -- a trough with water running in one end and out the top at the other end.

The snow melt must support an enormous amount of the water requirements for agriculture and urban use as France has mountains all around -- the Pyrenees in the south and the Alps in the north east and the Rhine in the North.

I will attach some water photos to demonstrate.