San Francisco Frontiers - French mountain lodges worry over strained water supply

The Parmelan mountain refuge in Haute-Savoie, a mountainous department bordering Switzerland, is perched at an altitude of 1,800 metres (nearly 6,000 feet).

The 19th-century building relies entirely on rainwater despite welcoming some 3,000 overnight visitors from May to October and countless hikers and campers passing through on the popular route.

The lodge collects rainwater in large tanks -- holding enough for six weeks of reserves -- that is then filtered and funnelled to the only tap on the premises, which is in the kitchen and only accessible to staff.

The water tanks are locked and caretaker Mathis Graham keeps a close eye on their levels.

"Every litre counts, of course. It's very important, and it's at the end of the season that you realise that every litre mattered, that we needed every single one of them," he told AFP.

For now, the lodge's water stocks, essential for dishwashing and cleaning, are sufficient, but Graham knows all too well the lodge's water insecurity.

The refuge came within five days of shutting down during a severe drought in 2022.

"No more water, no more life, no more lodge. And so we would have closed until it rained."

France is in the grips of a heatwave sweeping Europe, having already seen record-breaking temperatures in May.

Demand for water at the lodge is high on hot, busy days, but there is no tap for visitors to fill their water bottles or wash their hands, and drinking water -- delivered at the start of the season by helicopter -- costs four euros ($4.60) a bottle.

-'Wake-up call'-

Water scarcity is not unique among the 120 buildings managed by the French Federation of Alpine and Mountain Clubs (FFCAM), said Maria Isabel Le Meur, in charge of lodges and chalets.

Mountains are on the front lines of climate warming, and several high-altitude lodges have had to close their doors early in recent years for lack of water, she said.

The "wake-up call" of the 2022 drought convinced the federation to "radically rethink its approach to water use", she added.

The Lavey mountain hut in the Ecrins mountain range in the southeastern French Alps is avoiding flush toilets and showers in ongoing renovations, though a spring is available.

Hikers are instead asked to make do with freshening up with splashes of water in a washbasin.

It "may not seem like much, but it makes a big difference" for the refuge as a whole, Le Meur said.

The lodge has also been able to install a phytoremediation system, which treats wastewater using plants and is more environmentally friendly than the old system, Le Meur added.

Ultimately, water consumption will be limited to 15 to 20 litres per person per day, compared with an average of 149 litres in France.

Water saving measures are not always well received by lodge visitors, Le Meur said, despite awareness raising efforts by caretakers.

"In France, after all, the issue of water scarcity is new" and "there isn't enough collective awareness of the problem".

F.Edwards--SFF