Watering restrictions: keeping a garden green without watering more
In France, watering restrictions are decided by the prefect according to four levels: vigilance, alert, heightened alert and crisis. Lawn watering is first limited to certain hours, then banned. Check your address on VigiEau. An established lawn survives without watering: mow higher, keep water for young plantings and recolour if needed.
The four levels of restriction
When water runs short, prefects can take exceptional, gradual and temporary measures to limit or suspend water uses that are not a priority. The public website VigiEau presents them as follows:
| Level | What it means |
|---|---|
| Vigilance | Encouragement to save water. Awareness-raising, with no restrictions. |
| Alert | Reduced abstraction. Restrictions on watering, filling swimming pools and washing vehicles. |
| Heightened alert | Tighter restrictions on the same uses. |
| Crisis | Protection of priority uses (health, drinking water, civil security). Many domestic uses banned. |
The thresholds that trigger each level are set locally by the prefects. The orders are published on the website of the State services in the département and sent to town halls to be posted. The ministry in charge of the environment states that under alert and heightened alert, water savings of up to 50% can be required.
What the restrictions change for your lawn
The ministry gives examples of typical measures. They illustrate the logic, but only the order for your département is binding, and it may be more or less strict.
- Under alert: watering lawns, flower beds and green spaces is banned between 11 am and 6 pm.
- Under heightened alert: watering lawns and flower beds is banned. Only trees and shrubs planted in open ground less than two years ago may still be watered, from 8 pm to 9 am.
- Under crisis: the same bans for lawns, and watering green spaces is banned.
The restrictions also depend on the water you use. VigiEau distinguishes tap water, water from a well or borehole, and water taken from a river: a well does not necessarily exempt you.
How to find out whether you are affected
On vigieau.gouv.fr, enter your profile (private individual), the type of water you use and your address: the site shows the restrictions in force. It also offers an email alert when the restrictions that apply to you change. The absence of colour on the map is not enough to confirm there are no restrictions: check your address.
An established lawn does not need water to survive
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) points out that an established lawn that browns in summer keeps living roots and greens up again when the rain returns. It advises resisting the urge to water, however brown it is. Only lawns sown or turfed in spring really need water during their first summer, ideally with collected rainwater.
The water at stake is real. According to Ademe, the French environment agency, cited by VigiEau, we use on average 148 litres of drinking water per person per day, 6% of it to wash the car or water the garden. One millimetre of water is one litre per m²: watering 200 m² of lawn with 10 mm of water therefore uses 2,000 litres, each time.
Keeping a garden presentable with little water
Adapt your mowing
In dry weather, mow less often and raise the cutting height: longer grass roots more deeply. Leave the clippings on the lawn, they keep moisture in the soil. If the grass is no longer growing, stop mowing.
Keep water for what needs it
Young trees and shrubs, this year's seedlings and recent plantings come before the lawn. Stored rainwater goes to these uses first. Check in your order whether this collected water is covered.
Prepare for next summer
The autumn after a dry summer is the time to overseed thin areas, ideally with a drought-tolerant mix richer in fescues. The RHS also mentions micro-clover, more drought-resistant, which can be added to the mix. Regular scarifying and aerating encourages deep roots.
Recolouring rather than watering for appearance
Watering an established lawn in summer does not save it, since it would recover on its own with the rain: it mainly serves to keep it green. For that need, recolouring the yellowed grass is more ecological than excessive watering: up to 80% less water on treated areas (internal study).
What many people search for under the name grass paint is in fact a colorant. Greeneclat is made of organic pigments, a 98% bio-based plant resin and water. It binds to the blades, which stay alive and keep growing, with no plastic film, and the colour goes with the mowing over 2 to 3 months. Our page grass paint: how it works explains the principle.
Diluting a concentrate takes a little water. If your order is very strict, the ready-to-use formats (750 mL sprayer, 5 L container) are used without dilution. At crisis level, or if in any doubt, ask your town hall.
What it costs
On a lawn that is yellowed but healthy, the concentrate covers 400 m² per litre. For 400 m², a 1 L concentrate at €89.99 comes to about €0.22/m². For 600 m², you need two bottles, that is €179.98 and about €0.30/m². Calculations based on the price on the product page. On badly burnt turf, coverage is halved.
Hedges too
Under restrictions, hedges and thujas can also turn dull. On these, the colour lasts 6 to 12 months. The details are in our article recolouring a dull hedge or thujas.
How to use it, in brief
- Mow and remove debris.
- Shake the container and dilute according to the condition: 1:30 for badly burnt turf, 1:40 moderately damaged, 1:50 still green.
- Spray in criss-cross passes, in two light passes.
- Allow 8 hours without rain. Drying takes 2 to 3 hours in summer.
- Keep children and pets away during application and drying.
What a colorant does not replace
It does not cool the garden: coolness comes from shade, the soil and the water plants give off. It does not water and does not make dead grass grow back. If you accept a yellow lawn for a few weeks, that is the most frugal option, and you need no product at all. The colorant is useful when green has real value for you: a reception, a house to sell, a garden you see every day. Local authorities have their own constraints, covered in our article local authority green spaces under water restrictions. If you are considering artificial grass instead, our comparison of artificial grass and a real lawn covers heat, water and upkeep.
Frequently asked questions
Am I allowed to water my lawn under a drought alert?
It depends on the order for your département. In the ministry's typical examples, lawn watering is banned between 11 am and 6 pm under alert, then banned under heightened alert and crisis. Enter your address on VigiEau to find out the rules that apply to you.
Do the restrictions apply to water from a well or borehole?
They can. VigiEau distinguishes tap water, groundwater (well, borehole) and river water, and restrictions vary with the type of water. Enter yours on the site to get the exact answer for your address.
Will my lawn die if I stop watering?
An established lawn generally survives: the RHS explains that its roots stay alive and it greens up again when the rain returns. Lawns sown or turfed during the year are more fragile. Areas still bare after the autumn rain can be reseeded.
Can I use a colorant during water restrictions?
Diluting a concentrate uses a little water, whereas the ready-to-use formats are used without dilution. Only the order for your département is binding: at crisis level or if in doubt, ask your town hall before applying.
Keep some green this summer
For a garden of up to 400 m², the 1 L Meadow Green concentrate is enough on a lawn that is yellowed but healthy, with free delivery from the 1 L (France). For a badly burnt lawn, choose Forest Green. Send us a photo by WhatsApp: we will advise you on shade and dilution.
