Drought reveals sunken 11th century church as Spain battles prolonged water shortages
'Drought tourists’ are visiting to see the 11th-century church which was submerged 60 years ago.
A church in the sunken Spanish village of Sant Romà de Sau has emerged from the waters of a reservoir.
Flooded
60 years ago to form the Sau reservoir, which provides essential water
supplies to the city of Barcelona, just the top of the church’s
three-storey tower usually pokes up above the surface. Now, the
11th-century building stands firmly on dry land and has started to
attract ‘drought tourists’.
“It’s unbelievable how much the water level has gone down,” says Sergio Iberico who visits the reservoir often.
“I remember paddling here and the water level was at the window of the church tower.”
Current
water levels in the Sau reservoir are at just 6 per cent of capacity.
Last year at this time they were at around 19 per cent and the average
for January is usually above 90 per cent.
Can desalination solve Spain’s drought problem?
Laia
Hernandez Lloret, a spokesperson for the plant, says without it strict
water restrictions and a state of emergency would have been in place in
the region at least six months ago. Millions of tourists and residents
of Barcelona would not have enough water.
“From 100 litres of saltwater, we get 45 litres of fresh water. At the
moment, this desalination plant produces about 20 per cent of the
freshwater Barcelona needs,” says the director of the Llobregat plant
Carlos Miguel.
But, Miguel adds, they are currently operating at full capacity and can’t desalinate any more water.
Turning seawater into freshwater
alone is unlikely to solve Spain’s drought problem. It is too slow,
expensive and consumes a lot of energy. Unless that energy comes from
renewable sources, pollution caused by desalination will also speed up
climate change which is contributing to the water shortages.
And
yet as the problem persists, Spain is planning two new desalination
plants in the hardest-hit regions of Andalusia and Catalonia.
