Tourists visiting Barcelona are told to shower less and avoid golf courses as city battles record drought
- Emergency restrictions are expected before the end of the month
Tourists visiting Barcelona have been told to shower less and avoid golf courses as Catalonia suffers record drought.
Barcelona residents have been told to limit daily water consumption to 200 liters per person, with emergency restrictions expected before the end of the month.
To put this into context, a five-minute shower uses an average of between 75 and 90 liters.
Under the new rules, golf clubs will no longer be able to water their grass and guest numbers in hotels will have to shrink, according to De Telegraaf.
Despite being used to hot summer months, Spaniards have seen a growing number of intense heat waves in other seasons in recent years, causing panic among many scientists.
Tourists visiting Barcelona have been told to shower less and avoid golf courses as Catalonia suffers record drought
Authorities in Catalonia, including politician Manel Balcells (pictured), have ordered residents to limit daily water consumption to 200 liters per person, with emergency restrictions expected before the end of the month.
According to AEMET, the frequency of heat waves in the country has tripled in the past decade and the summer season has increased by ten days per decade since the 1980s.
According to Reuters, precipitation in Spain is about 17 percent below the 30-year average.
As a result, reservoir capacity in some areas of Catalonia in the northeast and Andalusia in the south is currently believed to be as low as 15 percent.
Water bills for the Catalan city rose by 11 to 16 percent earlier this month, as in 22 other municipalities across the country.
Catalan regional government spokeswoman Patricia Plaja said it was likely the region would enter an “emergency situation” before the end of the month… “unless there is heavy rain in the coming days.”
In December it was reported that plans were being made to ship between 20,000 and 30,000 hectoliters of water to the Barcelona metropolitan area, in an attempt to solve problems associated with the ongoing drought.
The Catalan government said that after 37 months of below-average rainfall, the situation of the reserves is critical.
In addition, the Catalan government is considering whether to fine tourists for drinking too much water.
Several Catalan municipalities have already received fines from the Catalan Water Agency for exceeding water consumption in September.
The city of Caldes de Malavella has been fined 24,181 euros for exceeding the then maximum consumption of 230 liters per inhabitant per day, as 296.26 liters were consumed.
Caldes de Malavella is a town of 8,200 inhabitants with two spas, several hotels, seven urbanizations and more than 100 kilometers of pipes.
