BARCELONA \u2014 A massive drought in Catalonia is forcing this northeast region of Spain to turn to water rationing, seawater desalination, and recycling effluent from sewage treatment plants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve registered 30 months with a lack of rain,\u201d Xavier Duran i Ram\u00edrez, spokesperson for the Catalan Water Agency, told Yahoo News.<\/p>\n
Last year reservoirs dropped to 55% capacity in the region, but the Sau reservoir, normally the main source of water for the regional capital, Barcelona, is currently at 8%, requiring the removal of fish, to save them from dying from lack of oxygen. The water authority has put Catalonia at level 3 of its drought protocol, requiring the reduction of water for all uses, including slashing irrigation by 40%.<\/p>\n
Many agricultural lands are parched, cracked, and hard as cement, prompting the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia to warn that regional harvests of olives, grapes, rice, and fruit are at \u201cserious risk\u201d and that reductions could be “very drastic,\u201d causing prices to skyrocket. Villagers are taking statues of Christ and the Virgin out of churches to carry them in processions, in which residents pray for rain.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>View of the Riudecanyes reservoir, on May 4 in Tarragona, Catalonia. (Laia Solanellas\/Europa Press via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cThis is the worst period that we have had for the last 100 years,\u201d Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Water Agency, said in April, normally a rainy month, which saw only a sprinkling of water this year.<\/p>\n
Droughts are common in the Mediterranean basin, Anneliese Brockman, a researcher at Catalonia\u2019s Ecological and Forestry Applications Research Centre, told Yahoo News. But they\u2019re usually followed by years filled with heavy downpours \u2014 and that\u2019s no longer happening. \u201cIt\u2019s a climate change-related problem,\u201d Broekman said, adding that chronic overuse of water reserves is exacerbating the situation.<\/p>\n
The local water company Aig\u00fces de Barcelona has begun processing seawater in desalination plants, two of which were built after the severe drought of 2008, when water was so scarce it was hauled to Catalonia on ships from France. Although 33% of Barcelona\u2019s water is now being provided via desalination, that\u2019s still not enough to address the deficit.<\/p>\n
Last year, Aig\u00fces de Barcelona also began using \u201cregenerated\u201d sewage water for street cleaning, industrial processes and irrigation, and the company is planning to boost the capacity at its desalination plants and build another.<\/p>\n
But that won\u2019t fix the problem, said Broekman. For one, with high energy costs, desalination plants, if relied on full-time, would \u201ctriple the price of water for consumers,\u201d she said. And even though recycling wastewater is gaining popularity worldwide \u2014 in San Diego, Singapore and Israel, it\u2019s even used as drinking water \u2014 she notes that water regeneration is also energy-intensive and threatens to further deplete water levels.<\/p>\n
The dire situation, Brokeman said, requires hard choices.<\/p>\n\n
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