Parched Catalonia would avert more drought curbs if it gets light rain

2/3/2024 7:20

        Some light rain will be enough for Catalonia to avoid further emergency curbs on water use, a regional official said, as the Spanish region tackles its worst drought on record.
        
        "We need very little rain to avoid entering phase two," David Mascort, the Catalonian regional government'senvironmental chief, told Reuters on Friday.
        
        Under a first phase of restrictions, residents have to cut their water usage by 5% and farmers by up to 80%. Mascort raised the possibility of easing some of these, such as lifting the ban on filling swimming pools in the case of communal facilities.
        
        Rainfall would avoid a second wave of measures under a state of emergency already affecting six million people in 200 towns and cities, including Spain's second largest city Barcelona.
        
        Even the same low rain levels as May and June of last year, accounting to between 150 litres to 200 litres per square meter of rain over a period of one to two weeks, would allow Catalonia to drop the state of emergency, Mascort said.