1 of 1 Tourists walk while fishermen collect fish from Sau reservoir, Catalonia, Spain, March 2023. — Photo: Portal/Nacho Doce Tourists walk while fishermen collect fish from Sau reservoir, Catalonia, Spain, March 2023. — Photo: Portal/Nacho Doce
A church has resurfaced in the village of San Roman in Catalonia, northeast Spain, due to the drought that has been affecting the region with belowaverage rainfall for the past 36 months. The building is located on the Sau reservoir, which has the lowest volume of water since 1990.
However, according to the state weather agency (Aemet), the situation is not expected to improve any time soon.
Spring 2023, which begins this Monday (20th) in the northern hemisphere, will see drier and warmer than normal weather along the northeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which includes Catalonia. As a result, the risk of forest fires increases even if it rains in other parts of the Spanish territory.
“This is an area that we could call no man’s land as it is unaffected by the storms from the Atlantic and Mediterranean Seas,” said Ruben del Campo, spokesman for Aemet, referring to northeastern Spain.
He pointed to climate change as one of the main factors. “Heat waves in this geographic area of the planet are more common, they are increasing more frequently than in other regions,” he said.
Spain’s drought, measured over 12 months, is no worse than in 2017, 2012 and 2005. But the average water level in Catalonia’s reservoirs is only 27%, slightly higher than parts of southern Andalusia.
At the beginning of March, after 25 months without significant rain, the Catalan government asked most of its seven million inhabitants to reduce water consumption at home by 8%, in industry by 15% and in agriculture by 40%.