Southern Europe getting ready for a summer severe droughtwith some areas already facing water shortages and farmers expecting their worst harvest in decades.

As climate change makes the region hotter and drier, years of repeated drought have depleted groundwater supplies. The ground is completely dry in Spain and southern France. Low water level in rivers and reservoirs threatens electricity production.

With temperatures rising over the summer, scientists are warning that Europe is heading for another particularly hot summer. Last year was already the hottest on record and exacerbated the region’s drought, which researchers in the EU have described as the worst in 500 years.

So far this year, Spain is facing the worst situation.

“The drought situation will worsen this summer,” warned Jorge Olsina, professor of geography at the University of Alicante in Spain.

There is also no chance that the rains that may occur now will solve the drought problem. “At this time of the year all we can have are regular and localized storms, which will not solve the problem of lack of rainfall,” Olsina noted.

Asking for EU help, Spain’s agriculture minister, Luis Planas, warned that “the situation created by this drought is so serious that its effects cannot be tackled with national resources alone,” according to a letter he sent to the European Committee on April 24.

Climate change

Southern Europe is not the only region of the world facing a water shortage. The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in decades, while historic drought in Argentina has hit soybean and corn production.

More frequent and severe droughts in the Mediterranean region — where the average temperature is 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than 150 years ago — is a consequence of climate change, which scientists have predicted. Despite the warnings, however, proper preparation has not been done. Many rural areas have not yet adopted water saving methods.

“Governments have delayed. The companies are late,” said Robert Vautard, scientist and director of the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute. “Some companies aren’t even thinking about changing their consumption model, they’re just trying to find some miracle technology that will carry water,” he added.

THE France experienced the driest winter since 1959, with “crisis” drought warnings already issued in four regions, according to the government website Propluvia.

THE Portugal also copes with premature drought. About 90% of the country is suffering from drought, with severe drought affecting one-fifth of the country, an area nearly five times that of last year.

In Spain the rainfall recorded this year in April was below half of the average: thousands of people rely on water deliveries by tankerswhile some regions, such as Catalonia, have already imposed restrictions on the use of water.

Some farmers have already reported crop losses of up to 80%, with cereals and oilseeds the hardest hit.

“This is the worst crop loss in decades,” said Pekka Pessonen, head of the European agricultural union Copa-Cogeca, referring to Spain. “The situation is worse than last year.”

Half of Europe’s olive production and a third of fruit comes from Spain, according to the Commission.

With water reservoirs at an average of 50% of their capacity, the Spanish government has announced that it will allocate more than 2 billion euros to deal with emergencies. In addition, it is awaiting a response from the European Commission to its request for the mobilization of a crisis fund of 450 million euros from the bloc’s budget for agricultural subsidies.

The Commission has indicated that it is closely monitoring the situation

“The severe drought in southern Europe is particularly worrying, not only for farmers there but also because it could increase already very high consumer prices if European production is significantly reduced,” said Commission spokeswoman Miriam García Ferrer.

Italy may also face similar problems, where up to 80% of the country’s water reserves are used for agriculture. Italian farmers plan to reduce their crops, sowing an area 6% less than last year, according to national data.

After two years of water shortages, areas of northern Italy started May with a 70% deficit in water reserves from melting ice and a 40% deficit in soil moisture, according to Luca Broca, director of research at Italy’s National Research Council.

Because the soil is so dry, when it does rain it is unable to absorb it, which can have disastrous consequences. At least five people have died in floods in the Emilia Romagna region, with the rain expected to continue for several more hours.