Spain's government on Friday unveiled new measures to relieve the impact of
the driest winter in memory, including diverting water between regions to ensure
supplies to 2.5 million people in the parched southeast.
In addition to human consumption, Spain depends on water to irrigate crops and
cut its heavy dependence on imported grain, as well as to boost hydroelectric
output amid an official drive to promote renewable energy.
A statement issued after a weekly cabinet meeting said the Mediterranean coast
as a whole had suffered the driest autumn and winter on record, but the
government said the population was not at risk.
"Citizens can rest easy that water supplies will be firmly ensured," Deputy
Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told journalists after the
cabinet meeting.
The cabinet agreed to allow 39 cubic hectometres to be diverted from the Tagus
river basin in the north and ...