THE government in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalunya has introduced more water restrictions for tourists, as it struggles to cope with the effects of an ongoing drought.
The region declared an emergency in February due to a lack of water, with measures that included a limit of 200 litres per person per day for tourists as well as residents.
Today, Tuesday, however, the government decided that hotels will have to observe lower limits per tourist depending on the level of emergency according to the so-called Special Drought Plan, known by its Spanish acronym PES.
“We are facing a dynamic drought and we have to adapt to scenarios that have not been foreseen in the PES,” said Patricia Plaja, the regional government spokesperson, in comments reported by Spanish daily El Pais.
The new rules will come into force on April 19, and will see a limit of 115 litres per tourist per day in a state of “Exceptionality”, dropping to 100 litres in Emergency I, 90 in Emergency II, and 80 in Emergency III.
What’s more, under the new plan, public and private swimming pools (i.e. those in hotels or apartment blocks) can be considered areas for ‘climate refuge’, so that residents have extra places to escape the extreme heat.
“This is a question of public health,” said Plaja. “If we hadn’t agreed these changes, we would have a Catalunya without swimming pools.”
For now, there is still a ban in the Catalunya region on filling private swimming pools, unless there is an agreement with the local authorities to use them as climate refuges.