Most affected areas
The authorities have had to take urgent measures to limit water consumption, in regions such as Catalonia (northeast) or Andalusia (south), where the level of reserves does not exceed 25% in the Guadalquivir basin, which irrigates the entire region.
“The situation now is absolutely dramatic,” both for “surface water” and for “aquifers,” says Rosario Jiménez, professor of Hydrology at the University of Jaén, in Andalusia. A situation that is even more worrying since it derives from a general context of climate change.
Heat and restrictions could get worse
In Spain, however, the lack of water is nothing new. The country even became a model of adaptation to irregular rainfall, thanks to its transfers of water between hydrographic basins and its numerous reservoirs, built to guarantee the supply of cities and agricultural areas.
Throughout the 20th century, 1,200 large dams were built, a European record when compared to the number of inhabitants. Spain went from 900,000 to 3,400,000 hectares of irrigated land, according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition on its website, where it states that “Spain’s water governance system is an example of success.”
But for many experts, this structure is already showing its limits. The reservoirs “have served”, but they have also “favored the “overexploitation” of water and a decline in its quality, by modifying the natural course of the rivers and their regeneration, according to Julio Barea, campaign manager for Greenpeace Spain.