France in Focus

Where is it?

that's just gross

Amsterdam, early this morning, quite popular these boat trips along the Rhine valley to Strasbourg. How long can this go on? In Cologne, the Rhine is at its lowest water level ever. A level of 67 centimetres was recorded at the city’s Rhine gauge – two centimetres lower than the previous record low set on 23 October 2018.

A slight drop in tourist numbers is something we can live with – in fact, we’d welcome it – but there is another problem that’s not quite so easy to live with. The electricity grid is already struggling at the moment, and now there’s yet another problem: how do you cool all these power stations? Where do you get enough cooling water from without raising the temperature too much downstream? It’s not good for flora and fauna either. The problem in France in its legal context.

It is even lower at Kaub near Koblenz, 25cm.
Freight and cargo barges are severely restricted, often operating at only 20% to 30% capacity an operating costs.
https://www.reuters.com/business/enviro ... 026-07-31/

Koblenz several days ago and last year, the fifth of December. It was rainy and cold – a brilliant start to the run-up to Christmas with a glass of hot 'Glühwein'.

Ugh! Stuck on a boat for days, cruises are my idea of hell

Stuck on a boat for days WITH OTHER PEOPLE - is also my idea of hell!

It wouldn’t do for us to all like the same things

I remember in the second half of the 90s having to have our gas barges delivering only one third of their normal cargo on shipments from Cologne to Ludwigshafen, but this seems to be even worse.

I wonder if anyone in the Bundesrat is thinking about installing barrages and locks through the Rhine Gorge. I am sure that would be far from straightforward; especially considering that that stretch also suffers from flooding and any impediment to water flow would likely make things worse.