BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Authorities in Spain’s parched northeast warned Tuesday that Barcelona and a large surrounding area home to 6 million people could face increased water restrictions in the coming months.
Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Water Agency, said the area encompassing Barcelona and smaller cities in north-eastern Spain would likely be declared a “drought emergency” for September unless forecasts of low rainfall proved wrong. .
“Unless it rains in the spring and summer (boreal), the water in the dams will not increase and we will enter states of emergency for the Llobregat river system around September,” Reyes said.
The Ter-Llobregat river system is the main source of water for Barcelona, Girona and smaller cities and villages. The Spanish government said its dams and others in northern Catalonia are at 27% capacity. Only the dams connected to the Guadalquivir basin in southern Andalusia are in a worse state, at 26% of their capacity.
Reyes said many rivers in Catalonia are at historically low levels after a record-breaking drought in the region forced limits on water consumption by agriculture and industry last year. Town halls have been asked to stop filling the fountains, and other limitations apply. It is debated whether public swimming pools can be enabled during the summer, and many municipalities maintain that they are ideal “climate refuges”.
In an extraordinary effort to save every last drop, the authorities managed to move some 13 cubic hectometres of water from the Catalan Sau dam. In order to guarantee water quality and avoid a massive fish kill, the authorities killed 4,000 invasive species of fish. Reyes’s agency said Tuesday that process was complete.
Sau is one of three dams firefighters say they won’t be able to use to fight forest fires Most of Spain is bracing for a difficult fire season, with dry forests and temperatures forecast to be high after record highs 2022.
“Drought has become the main concern of this country,” said Patricia Plaja, a spokeswoman for the Catalan government.
