Desperate measures

 
Published: Wednesday 15 March 2006

Drying up:Too little rain in< (Credit: Clemente Perez/ trekearth)As Spain faces another year of drought, the government has imposed drastic restrictions and plans to recycle all water used in the capital, Madrid, by 2012.

The plan will come into effect in April, 2006. Paz Gonzlez, city councillor for environment, Madrid, claimed that a series of restrictions in force since July 2005, had already saved 2,200 million litres of water. But environmentalists were not convinced about the accuracy of this figure, or about the viability of the new plan.

Santiago Martn Barajas of Ecologists in Action, an ngo, argued that the measures should have been in place before the 2005 summer, when it was clear that Spain was already suffering from drought. He said the measures would fall short and called for additional actions like awareness-raising campaigns to limit consumption and repairs to curb losses from leaks in supply pipes, which cause 50 per cent of the wastage.

Subscribe to Daily Newsletter :

Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.