As it faces a drought alert, the French department of the Yvelines is doing everything it can to monitor compliance with the water use restrictions currently in place. Environmental inspectors at the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB) track down prohibited behaviors. "We are experiencing a period of drought that is quite exceptional and that has not occurred for a number of years, particularly in Yvelines, where until now we have been rather preserved," says the department's sub-prefet, Florence Ghilbert. Water restrictions have already been ordered in nearly all of France's 96 mainland departments, with 62 at the highest alert level, and the Meteo-France weather agency has forecast little relief for the coming weeks. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES