“Spain officially settles into drought”, alert The country on its front page, August 10. In the middle of summer, when temperatures above 40°C persist, “the level of water reserves fell to 39.2%, a first since 1995, a year which saw the imposition of severe restrictions on human consumption and the collapse of agriculture”.
Admittedly, drought is a recurring phenomenon in this Mediterranean country, but as noted by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, “climate change accentuates the severity of these episodes”. Signs of drought were noted as early as February, and low rainfall in May and June aggravated the situation.
The problem, adds the Spanish newspaper, is that“no improvement is in sight”.
“It will continue to be hot as the season requires, sufficient rain is not expected before October and the level of the dams is visibly dropping due to the large influx of tourists and the needs for agricultural irrigation, in high demand to prevent crops from being lost.”
And all this, “not to mention the water consumed by hydroelectric production”.
sad mission
The leading Spanish daily reports overwhelming data from the ministry’s weekly bulletin on the hydrological situation. They report reserves falling, each week, by more than one percentage point.
And drought is not the only catastrophe caused by climate change. On the front page, The country displays the photo of two scientists scouting at Mont Perdu, in the Pyrenees. This is “one of the few remaining glaciers in Spain”, he laments, and “it is falling apart” under the effect of heat which melts the ice.
“Sad Mission” than that of the scientists that the daily was able to follow. Because “they already know the end of the story: the glaciers they study are all doomed to disappear within a few years. The only questions are when, and who will be the last of them to melt”.