At a time when every drop counts, VigiEau is becoming the public compass, providing real-time information on water restrictions for different audiences, as well as tips on how to save water. Free of charge, geolocated and fed with official data, the site provides simple, accurate information.
VigiEau in France
Every summer brings the same reminder: water is no longer an inexhaustible resource. To help citizens, farmers and local authorities manage every drop more effectively, the French Ministry for Ecological Transition has launched VigiEau, a free public website that centralises in real time all the official data on the state of water resources in the regions of France.
Accessible from a computer or smartphone, the platform is designed to be both educational and operational: in just a few clicks, anyone can find out if they are subject to watering restrictions, understand why and discover low-impact measures suited to their situation.
One-stop drought information service
The summers of 2022 and 2023 left their mark on people’s minds: rivers dried up, villages were deprived of their water supply, and a series of prefectoral decrees were issued. Against this backdrop, the government wanted to respond to a twofold need: to provide national visibility of the water crisis and to provide users with local tools to help them adapt their practices. VigiEau was born of this desire, with a simple objective: to bring together information that until now has been scattered across departmental bulletins, prefecture websites and social networks, so that no-one can be unaware of the alert level that concerns them.
VigiEau supports a societal reality based on several challenges:
- Climate change: rising temperatures, falling rainfall and more frequent droughts.
- Demographic pressure and competing uses (agriculture, industry, tourism, private individuals).
- The national objective is to reduce water consumption by 10% by 2030.
How does VigiEau work?
It’s easy to get started. Internet users enter their address or authorise geolocation; the site then displays the alert level in force – vigilance, alert, heightened alert or crisis – together with a clear summary of the restrictions: watering gardens, filling swimming pools, washing cars, agricultural irrigation, and so on.
3 key services
The site is built around three main services:
- An interactive map: on a national scale and broken down by département, it allows you to zoom in by commune, watercourse or catchment area, with daily updates of prefectoral decrees.
- Personalised alerts: register free of charge to receive an e-mail as soon as a new measure affects your zone.
- Practical advice: a series of eco-actions sheets (rainwater harvesting, sprinkler settings, grey water recycling) tailored to different audiences to help reduce water consumption.
Practical guide
Here’s a step-by-step guide to getting to grips with the VigiEau site:
- Go to
Open your web browser on a computer, tablet or smartphone; type vigieau.gouv.fr in the address bar.
- Your profile
Choose the profile that applies to you
- Search for a location
Enter the address that interests you and start your search.
Enter a house number, a street name or a postcode: a drop-down menu will show you the corresponding addresses, and it’s up to you to validate to display the alert level for your town.
From a location-enabled smartphone or computer, click on the “geolocate me” icon when you accept the access request: the site detects your location and displays the corresponding restrictions.
- Map navigation
You can also find the location of your choice using the interactive map.
Zoom in using the scroll wheel on your mouse or the +/- buttons on the right of the map; geolocation is also possible, as is full-screen viewing.
Shortcuts take you directly to France or the French overseas territories.
Hover over a department or basin: a tooltip summarises the level of vigilance.
Click to open the detailed information sheet (prefectoral decrees, dates of entry into force, authorised/prohibited actions).
- Understanding colour codes
| Colour | Level | Main consequences |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Vigilance | Reinforced monitoring, eco-gestures recommended |
| Orange | Alert | Moderate restrictions (night-time watering, limited filling of swimming pools) |
| Light red | Heightened alert | Strict restrictions: garden watering banned, agricultural water flow reduced |
| Dark red | Crisis | Priority given to drinking water; non-essential uses suspended |
- Activate personalised alerts
In the town of your choice, click on Receive an alert.
Enter your email address and confirm.
You will receive an email each time a new decree affects your area (change of level, new dates).
- Consult official decrees
Each local authority fact sheet has a link to the full prefectoral decree.
Click to download the PDF, so you can check the articles detailing penalties or exceptions.
Each local authority sheet also has a share button (email, social networks).
- Adopting the right gestures
There are practical inserts on the home page. You can also consult tips on how to save water at home and reduce your bills1, as well as the water information centre, which includes an annual water consumption calculator2.
A tool to help reduce water consumption
In addition to providing useful information on a day-to-day basis, particularly during the summer months, VigiEau is intended as a tool to encourage people to comply with the rules. If you want to comply with the rules, you have to know what they are, and that’s the main purpose of the site: to inform. The site goes further, showing the tangible impact of a simple gesture: for example, reducing showering time by one minute saves 12 litres, replacing midday watering with evening watering reduces evaporation by half, and many other little tips and practical advice.
The platform is also part of an open approach: all its data can be reused via a public API3 and drought data4, so that local authorities, digital companies and researchers can develop their own applications, dashboards or SMS alerts. It’s a virtuous circle that enhances the transparency and efficiency of water management.
- Direct access to VigiEau:
By centralising rules and advice, VigiEau does more than just compile decrees: it represents the transition from drought management to informed collective action. One click for information, one gesture for savings: the objective is simple, but it starts now.
Travel link
- Water weather in France and groundwater map
- Restr’Eau 34, Hérault Prefecture