Spain: Barcelona starts to import water on ships

Barcelona began shipping in drinking water May 13 as severe drought conditions persisted, according to a May 13 Associated Press report on FOXNews.com.

Leonard Carcole, director-general of Aguas de Barcelona, the city’s utility, commented on the dry spring conditions as a Panamanian-flagged tanker loaded with water docked at Barcelona’s port. The ship began its journey at the Spanish city of Tarragona. “It has been one of the driest years ever, and Barcelona has found itself in need of water,” he said.

The ships, scheduled to continue to arrive with water for at least the next three months, will provide the 5.5 million people of greater Barcelona with 6 percent of their usual monthly water consumption. The ship that arrived May 13 carried 5 million gallons of water, enough to fill about eight Olympic-size swimming pools.

A planned $277 million pipeline to bring in water from the Ebro River to the west is also in the works, designed to help the region hang on until a desalination plant is completed in May of next year, the report said.

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