Changes in the water status of spruce needles have been studied in relation with the present dieback disease of forests in the French Jura. A study of the variation in width of annual rings has been conducted to evaluate if radial growth was disturbed during forest decline. The water content of the needles displayed great individual variability, but at the population level, variation in water content was closely correlated to the health status of the trees: at the same age, the needles of the damaged trees showed lower water content than those of the healthy ones. A mean diameter growth index was used to take into account the effect of ageing of the trees on diameter growth. Globally, this index increased during the past century: such a result indicates that the vigour of the spruce populations had not been altered since the beginning of the century. The healthy and diseased trees displayed the same variation in the mean growth index until 1949. Then, the affected spruces had annual increments lower than those of the healthy trees during two periods, from 1949 to 1959 and from 1973 to 1987. These growth crises correspond to periods with a pronounced rainfall deficit, which often included one or several years of severe drought. Thus, poor water supply could play a role in the present decline of spruce in the French Jura. Key words: radial growth, forest decline, tree-ring width, drought, water content.