More water cuts on way next month if no rain falls

1 September 2005

MADRID — Water restrictions will be introduced in many of Spain’s biggest cities next month if there is no respite in its worst drought in 60 years.

The Spanish environment minister Cristina Narbona said “obligatory measures” to restrict water supplies will be brought in from October if enough rain does not fall. 

In an interview with the radio station Catalunya Informació, Narbona said an EUR 390 million emergency plan had already been brought into action earlier this year.

She added: “If during September in Madrid it is still dry, which unfortunately is what is forecast, and there is not enough to recoup water reserves, we will have to bring in water restrictions.”

Narbona said some town councils around Spain, like Madrid, had already anticipated this and were cutting water supplies used in water public parks and cleaning streets.

On Friday, the government is to pass a new emergency water plan when the cabinet has its weekly meeting.

Two of these measures will relate to the reserves near Lerida on the banks of the River Ebro, one of Spain’s biggest rivers, which flows through Catalonia. 

She said the Catalan regional government or Generalitat had already introduced water restrictions, cutting down the amount of water which farmers can use to water crops.  

She said the Generalitat had saved 45 thousand cubic metres of water in the last few months.

Narbona called on those who lived in cities to try to support farmers who had suffered the most from the drought by making more efficient use of water.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news