The river Drôme: its history and consequences of pollution and global

warming

The river Drôme : what is it ?????The source of the river is in the

Diois, Col de Cabres ,which is 1262 m above sea level south of the Vercors mountains. While its flowing through the mountains of Upper Diois, which is a deep valley, it becomes a torrent . Near Luc-en-Diois, , the Drôme becomes bigger. From Crest, the valley widens and the slope decreases.

What is the problem ????

1-Pollution

2- Global warming

3- Intensive agriculture

1- PollutionDuring the 1980s and 1990 the streams of the valley of the Drôme were polluted by waste waters from the towns and villages which line them .So it was forbidden to bathe in the river.

Further to the implementation by the C.L.E. of a 1st Contract of 100 million francs,water plant were built to clean the waters of the river and the was waters from Die, Saillans, Crest, Allex-Grane.Since the there has been great improvement of the quality of the water.Since 1997 we can go bathing in the river.

2- Global warmingTo water the fields of corn and sunflower (which require a lot of water,) we draw from the river during the summer, which is a time when the water level is at its lowest . The area of the irrigated farmlands considerably increased and even was multiplied by 2 from the 1970s to the 1990s.The number of cubic meters of water pumped in the river for the irrigation of crops increases tremendously. That is why the river Drôme was completely dried up in Livron for three consecutive years in 1989, 1990 and 1991. So, the number of tons of dead fish which we had to collect amounted to 3 or 4 tons.

3- Intensive agriculture

Now we are going to speak about a burning issue : agriculture.- At first, farmers, to water their crops, draw some water from the riviere Drome.-Fertilizers and pesticides are also a great danger for the river : they kill fish and cause the seaweeds to grow.

4- Conclusion

For some years the river Drôme has been confronted with assaults of farmers, car and truck pollution, ... But worse, the phenomenon of global warming has made things worse. Indeed, this phenomenon has caused the water level to lower. As a consequence some animals and plants are disappearing. The river is a source of life for the department which bears its name.If nothing is done, it will be the end of the river and we might see happen. It will trigger the death of the fauna and the local flora.It is necessary to act to preserve our dear river Drôme.