The drought that has been plaguing Catalonia for months is generating unprecedented images throughout the territory, such as those of the Darnius-Boadella reservoir, in Alt Empordà, where the building of the Real Fundidora de Sant Sebastià de la Muga has been completely exposed. The remains of the construction, an old cannon ammunition factory from the 18th century, are usually buried by the water of the Muga River and only emerge in years of drought. This time it has been completely exposed, in rubble that also includes the hermitage of San Sebastià. The drought that has led the Government to decree a state of emergency in much of the country has left the reservoir at 11.7% of total capacity. Of the 61 cubic hectometers it can store, it now has 7.13.
The Darnius-Boadella reservoir is four percentage points below the average for all of Catalonia's reservoirs, which is currently 15.44%. The lack of rain and the decrease in water reserves has led the Government to declare an emergency or exceptional situation due to drought in several parts of the country.
Among other measures, the executive has modified the ecological flow of the rivers, an action that environmental groups have criticized. One of the rivers affected is, precisely, the Muga, and regarding this Ecologists of Catalonia, the Association of Naturalists of Girona and the Iaeden have denounced that 25% of the section that goes from Pont de Molins (Alt Empordà) to the mouth of the river is "dry." That is why they have assured that the reduction of the minimum flow approved in an emergency situation - 40 liters per second - will be "their death."
The president of Ecologistas de Catalunya, Joan Vázquez, has stated that the flow in this river has been reduced by 96% in relation to what was foreseen in the 2005 flow plan (1,200 liters per second) and that "with only 3 % it is almost impossible for us to have water.
