Judging by these photos taken on 28 October by Marc Lanners at the Lac de la Haute Sûre, close to Esch-sur-Sûre, one of the country’s major drinking water sources is turning into a desert.

Lanners said he was walking from Pont Misaire in the direction of Romwiss where he saw the dry river bed, stranded boats and a few pools of water.

The Luxembourg water authority banned bathing and other nautical activities at the site at the end of July because of an outbreak of harmful cyanobacteria or blue algae. This is fairly common at the end of a hot summer but 2018 appears to be the earliest year in which a ban was imposed. By August, the authority warned that water had reached the lowest levels recorded for the last ten years and that minimum standards essential for nautical organisms to survive had been reached.

The reservoir, which was dammed in the 1950s to meet drinking water and electricity needs, is bordered by a hiking trail spanning some 42 kilometres. Today it is part of a natural park and remains an important source of drinking water for the country, supplying up to 70 % of the population with drinking water.