Spain begins canceling popular ‘water festivals’ due to drought

Residents of many Spanish towns “wet” their streets every summer with traditional Water Festivals that were “cut” this year due to the extreme drought situation, which has caused some municipalities to rethink and even cancel their celebrations.

At a time marked by a “serious” water crisis and the risk of desertification, 39.2% of the total capacity of Spanish reservoirs, the lowest in a decade, is “non-essential uses to not waste this resource,” said Rafael Seiz, spokesperson for the WWF Spain water program. I argued.

The non-governmental organization Ecologistas en Acción also complained about the “waste” of water and condemned in a statement that celebrating this holiday means “sending a message that we can continue to consume critical resources like water without consequences”.

Rethink or cancel

For this reason, Bercian Municipality, MolinasecaIn León, he decided to abandon his scheduled party for August 14-17, due to the low flow of the Meruelo River, according to the mayor who asked the neighbors. “maximizing” water-saving measures.

municipality benamargosaLocated in Málaga’s Axarquia region – where the La Viñuela reservoir is only at 12% of its capacity – on August 6 and 7 it held events to replace the traditional “water fight” and the water with your fair’s slides.

although on his behalf Vilagarcia de ArousaIn Pontevedra, which will celebrate the Water Festival on August 16, the mayor explained that the drought has “forced” the municipality to choose a different format and return to its origins, replacing hoses with buckets, “more responsible consumption”. .

town of Alicante torremanzanas Nor will they abandon the water war known as “La Banyá” on August 15, but they do not “exclude” measures to reduce consumption and conserve water.

La Banyà Festival in Alicante Information


On the contrary, at the Fiestas del Agua de Madrid to talk 17-21 June- and Vallecas’s second “Sea Battle”, which turned forty on 17 July, took place “normally” despite the lack of resources.

Similarly, the town of Granada lanjaron held its famous “water race” on June 23, and even “with a larger reception” than in previous years, due to the “pause” of the pandemic; however, thousands of liters of water used later flow into canals that are reused for irrigation in the lower parts of the city.

Keeping the “spirit”: respect and awareness

In order not to break with tradition and summer festivals, WWF Spain pays homage to “chance” by proposing to “switch” the Water Festivals for another type of celebration that “keeps the festive spirit”. there is water.

Ecologists in Action also added that it would be good to use the holiday as an “opportunity” to raise residents’ awareness of the importance of responsible consumption of an increasingly scarce resource.

The WWF spokesperson pointed out that the drought was not only caused by the lack of rain, but rather by the drought. decisions Measures taken in previous years to avoid further restrictions on some water uses.

Likewise, Santiago Martín Barajas, coordinator of the water area of ​​Ecologas en Acción, threw the problem of famine onto the waters. “excessive” water consumption for agricultural usesand not for celebrating a party where the relatively amount consumed is “ridiculous”.

Both NGOs agree that “we cannot continue to overexploit and falsify our resources” and demand “greater attention” when distributing and using water to avoid situations like the current situation.

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Environment department contact address:[email protected]

Source: Informacion

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