The metropolitan area of Barcelona, Spain's second city, was placed in a state of "emergency" on Thursday. This is due to the historic drought which has affected this region in the north-east of the country for three years.
The decision will result in new limits on water consumption for six million inhabitants in total, with strong restrictions, in particular for industry and agriculture. “Catalonia is suffering from its worst drought in a century. We have never been confronted with such a long and intense episode since we kept rainfall records,” said the president of the Catalan regional government Pere Aragonès.