In the Sau reservoir, teams in small boats are hard at work hauling out fish with nets. The idea is to remove them before they die and rot in the water, making it unusable for human consumption.
The water level has dropped so low here – to below 10% of the reservoir’s capacity – that there is already a risk the water will be contaminated by silt. Therefore, while the fish are removed, Sau’s remaining water is being emptied downstream to another reservoir.
The Sau reservoir, 100km (about 62 miles) inland from Barcelona, has been supplying water to the city and other towns in the north-eastern region of Catalonia for half a century. But in recent months it has become the most visible symbol of the worst drought this area has seen in living memory, BBC news reported.
That is because of the now-notorious sight of the 11th Century church of Sant Romà de Sau, which was submerged when the reservoir was created in 1962.
In times of abundant rain, the building – situated in the reservoir – sat below the water level, but it now stands several metres above the waterline, surrounded by parched earth.
This part of Catalonia has not seen sustained rain in two-and-a-half years. In early March, the reservoir’s water level had dropped to 8% of its capacity, down from 55% a year earlier.
Although Catalonia’s situation is particularly worrying much of the country is facing similar challenges, particularly in southern and eastern areas. In mid-March, reservoirs in the Guadalquivir basin of Andalusia averaged 26% of their capacity, one point below the Catalan interior, and in the south-eastern Segura basin they were at 36%. That compared with 83% capacity in parts of the northwest.
In March, Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET declared that the country as a whole “continues in a situation of meteorological drought which began over a year ago”.
Not all droughts are caused by climate change, but increased heat in the atmosphere takes more moisture out of the earth, making dry spells worse. The world has warmed by about 1.1C since the beginning of the industrial era and temperatures are expected to keep increasing unless there are drastic cuts to emissions.
Source: Oman News Agency