Water:" increasing pressure expected across France" (Haut Commissariat à la Stratégie et au Plan)

88% of the French territory will be under moderate or severe pressure in summer if current trends continue, compared with 64% in a "breakthrough" scenario: this is one of the findings of an analysis note ("Water in 2050: serious pressure on ecosystems and uses") published by the French HCSP (Haut-Commissariat à la Stratégie et au Plan) on 25/06/2025.

" The HCSP has been developing its expertise in water forecasting for many months, and this note is the culmination of that work, comparing supply and demand, and the tensions that this can create between needs, consumption, abstraction and available resources throughout France", described Clément Beaune, the High Commissioner for Strategy and Planning, on 24/06/2025.

The study identifies, at the level of France's 40 catchment areas, the periods of the year when pressure on surface water resources could arise. This assessment was carried out for two contrasting years (simulated in the Explore2 project, using the Orchidée and Smash hydrographic models), selected for the 2050 horizon: one year marked by a dry spring-summer and the other by…