Spain may face a serious water shortage this year, which will also affect agriculture

Spain may face a serious water shortage this year, as the contents of water reservoirs have dropped to 50.7 percent of their capacity due to unusually dry weather, the Spanish Meteorological Service (Aemet) announced on Tuesday.

(Photo: Pixabay)

The amount of water stored in the 317 reservoirs of the southern European country is currently about 23 percent below the usual average for this time of the last ten years. Aemet called the first two weeks of April “extremely dry”, while it said March was the second warmest and least wet this century. This year’s hydrological year, calculated from the first of October last year, is also characterized by drier than normal weather: 21 percent less precipitation fell in six and a half months. In some southern areas, such as Murcia, this rate exceeded 25 percent.

According to the meteorological service, some rain is expected in the country in the last week of April

However, experts are not very optimistic in the longer term, as forecasts now show a warmer than usual summer.

The Ministry of Agriculture convened a meeting on Wednesday to analyze the problems caused by the drought and the solutions

The Andalusian provincial government announced that they plan to adopt a package of emergency measures against drought worth 163 million euros, of which 40 million euros would support the agricultural sector.

MTI