Artur Duran holds his hand out by his waist to show the level of water he remembers two years ago at the Darnius Boadella reservoir in northeastern Spain.
Catalonia’s authorities last week imposed new water usage restrictions on 22 villages around the reservoir, near the French border, as the aquifer supplying them is also emptying.
Several heatwaves recorded in Spain and wider Europe this summer have worsened the drought, lowering reservoirs’ levels as water evaporation and consumption increased, said Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET.
The 22 villages, plus two others in southern Catalonia, which account for around 25,000 residents in total, are in a state of water emergency.
This means they must lower their consumption to a daily average of 200 litres of water per resident from a prior cap of 230.
The village of Agullana with 900 residents has been keeping its water usage below the 200-litre cap for several months, but its mayor said further steps will be implemented.
“We’ll reduce to zero the irrigation of gardens, the football field, the grass by the swimming pool, which we’ll see turning yellow as if burnt,” Josep Jovell said.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Catalonia’s authorities last week imposed new water usage restrictions on 22 villages around the reservoir, near the French border, as the aquifer supplying them is also emptying.
Several heatwaves recorded in Spain and wider Europe this summer have worsened the drought, lowering reservoirs’ levels as water evaporation and consumption increased, said Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET.
The 22 villages, plus two others in southern Catalonia, which account for around 25,000 residents in total, are in a state of water emergency.
This means they must lower their consumption to a daily average of 200 litres of water per resident from a prior cap of 230.
The village of Agullana with 900 residents has been keeping its water usage below the 200-litre cap for several months, but its mayor said further steps will be implemented.
“We’ll reduce to zero the irrigation of gardens, the football field, the grass by the swimming pool, which we’ll see turning yellow as if burnt,” Josep Jovell said.
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