Archive for the ‘Now In Barcelona' Category

Barcelona experiencing the worst drought in sixty years.

While sunseeking tourists are coming in droves to Barcelona to lie on the beach working on their tan, Catalonia has been experiencing its worst drought in years. Dam levels are at an all time low at just one fifth of normal capacity, and rainfall is much lower than it used to be. What little rain the city had in the wetter months of May and June, failed to fall in dam catchment areas.

In mid May, Barcelona started receiving drinking water from France. The first shipment brought 19,000 cubic meters (5 million gallons) from Marseille. The regional government of Catalonia has said that six ships per month are scheduled to bring in roughly 6% of the monthly water consumption for its five and a half million inhabitants, for the next three months at least.

Fountains in city parks have been switched off to save water and talks are now underway to turn off the showers at Barcelona beaches. The government is hopeful the pressure will ease by May next year when desalination plant is scheduled for completion.

In the meantime, its important that residents and tourists do their part to conserve water as best they can. Having shorter showers, turning off the tap when brushing their teeth, using washing up water to water pot plants and not using hoses to wash down hard surfaces are some easy ways we can contribute to water conservation, but the local council also needs to set the standard.

For many years, the council has used fire hoses to wash down the streets and community garbage bins. Recently they have started using bore water and installing higher pressure hoses which use less water and clean more effectively, but it might be that it is too little, too late to change the attitudes of the community, who have for years seen the authorities literally washing the regions water supplies, down the drain.

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