The Spanish Ministry for the Environment has called on residents and holidaymakers alike to save water as spain starts its worst summer of drought since 1947.
A dry winter and spring has left national water reserves almost 50 percent down on total capacity with no expectation of rain in the driest areas until October.
Murcia and the Valencia regions are the most critical with reservoirs on the Segura and Júcar rivers running at 29 and 16 percent (respectively) of total capacity.
To compound the situation, Met Office is predicting a dry hot summer. Temperatures are expected to be 2 degrees above average for July, August and September.
This week, the National Water Authority refused to rule out placing restrictions on water use on the Costa Blanca, although chiefs have said such measures are not foreseen at the moment.
The drought has hit farmers the hardest, with crops in Valencia and Murcia going to ruin. Viticulturists in the Vega Baja have warned they face losing hundreds of thousands of euros because they do not have water to irrigate vines.
Central and regional governments have announced plans to put 472 million euros into emergency projects in the Valencia Region to counteract the effects of the drought.
Several weeks after stating there would be no problems in supplies this summer, environment minister Cristina Narbona said on Tuesday that restrictions are not discounted.
Sra Narbona says Spain is experiencing the effects of climate change. She explained: “Our rivers have less water than 20 years ago and the land is becoming more arid.”
The minister urged residents to take measures to save water in their own homes. She asked people to take showers rather than baths, to turn off dripping taps, to only use the washing machine with a full load and not to change swimming pool water. “These are only small measures but if everyone does it we will save a lot of water,” she said.
It is a year since central government cancelled the Ebro channelling scheme, and so far replacement plans (desalination plants) have failed to prevent the shortage.
A report made in the USA this week revealed that the desalination plan when completed, will provide 73 percent less water to the Valencia Region than the Ebro channel and the Ebro project would have had less impact on the environment.
Water from desalination plants, apart from being of lesser quality, will also cost far more than regular supplies.
An Alicante university study shows that to pay for the cost of new plants and supplies, water rates in the province could triple in the next five years.
