Catalonia: State of emergency declared as region faces worst drought in history

Spain’s Catalonia region has declared a state of emergency as it experiences its worst drought in history.

Measures introduced to tackle the crisis will prevent residents from washing their cars or refilling empty swimming pools from Thursday.

More than 6 million Catalans will be affected in 200 towns and cities, including the capital Barcelona.

The limits were announced after the reservoir was reduced to nearly 16% of its capacity.

“It’s not raining yet,” Anna Casoriva Fréchet told the BBC as she looked out the window of her bakery. “I’m worried about not having enough water.”

Anna lives and works in Belga, a town high in the mountains north of Barcelona that has been hit hard by the drought.

“You need water to make bread, you need water to make dough,” she said. “But we also need things at home, like washing machines and showers.”

Spain is used to dry areas, and other parts of the country, including Andalusia in the south and eastern Valencia, are also experiencing drought.

But Catalonia, which borders southern France, is less accustomed to such conditions, forcing authorities to consider shipping water to Barcelona if it dries up. This measure was previously adopted in 2008.

Other early emergency restrictions include sharp cuts in water use for crops and industry, and caps on the amount of water each resident can receive per day.

City officials could be fined if they ignore these restrictions, and restrictions could be tightened further.

Even just a few kilometers away from Berga, the effects of the drought are evident. The La Baels reservoir, together with other reservoirs in the Tell Llobregat basin system, supplies water to Barcelona and dozens of surrounding towns.

Currently, its water level is far below its capacity, leaving its dry banks exposed.

Anna Barnadas, the Catalan government’s climate secretary, told the BBC: “There are between five and six million people living in Barcelona and the surrounding area, making it a very vulnerable area due to its high population density.” Told.

She said the Catalan government’s drought strategy, developed in 2021, has already diversified the region’s water supply and made it less dependent on reservoirs and wells. There are already some restrictions in place regarding water use.

Barnadas said these measures allowed authorities to delay emergency measures.

“We recognize that a state of emergency affects all sectors and affects the entire population, so in this case it means introducing some major restrictions,” she said.

“Postponing the state of emergency is our top priority, but it cannot be avoided.”

Barnadas said it was too early to know whether the drought was caused by climate change, although the Catalan government believed it was possible.

Climate change doesn’t cause all droughts, but increased heat in the atmosphere makes droughts worse. According to the United Nations, temperatures in the Mediterranean region are rising 20% ​​faster than the global average and are expected to continue rising unless emissions are drastically reduced.

In Barcelona itself, the effects of the drought are less noticeable than in the nearby mountains. However, the city’s ornamental fountains have been suspended since last year, and watering of public and private gardens is largely prohibited.

“I try to save water in my daily life, doing things like taking a shower,” one local resident, Sylvia Martinez, told the BBC.

“But I’m worried that this will become the norm in the future.”

Barcelona’s status as one of Spain’s top tourist destinations has raised questions about how it will cope with the high season if the drought continues into the summer. More than 12 million people will visit the city in 2023, and Catalonia’s tourism director Marta Domenech y Tomás told the BBC that even more could arrive in 2024.

He said the region was “very well prepared” to welcome tourists despite the drought and said the industry was making adjustments to adapt to water shortages.

Hotels are taking a variety of measures, from notifying guests of the need for judicious water use, to installing water counters in bathrooms, to encouraging guests to reuse sheets and towels. ing.

But there is a feeling among many Catalans that things will get worse before they get better.

“This is one of the things they have been warning us about for a while, but we don’t pay much attention to it, so we continue with our normal lives,” said a local heading to work in central Barcelona. The man, Pep Soler, said: .

He added: “We need to use less water because we have become too accustomed to certain privileges that we don’t need at all.”