In the grip of a three-year drought, the Spanish city of Barcelona announced last month that it would have to start supplying its 1.6mn inhabitants with water brought by boat from a desalination plant in the nearby Valencia province from June this year.
Shipping water by sea is an expensive solution — as is the desalination process that distils the water. But the decision underscores the severity of the drought. Now, Catalan authorities are planning to double the region’s capacity for desalination over the next three years.
Spain is not the only country to view desalination as a potential solution to water shortages. Although just 1 per cent of the world’s water currently comes from desalination, governments in the US, Egypt, Morocco and Italy all have plans to expand plant capacity.