Spanish drought revealing drowned medieval village, forcing imports of water from France.

The terrible drought in Spain is leading to some eerie pictures. The dried out pond in front of the cathedral is so strange to see, because the image is so familiar

but so bizarre. The Sagrada Familia cathedral is still unfinished, but the lake in front of it with the reflections of the towers in it is a classic, I guess clicheed snapshot of the city, and looking at the empty lake is just... wrong.

Even stranger, though, are images of Sant Roma- a village that was drowned when a valley was flooded to provide water for the region. The water levels have declined so much in the drought that tourists are flocking to see the newly-emerged church, walking on land that's been under water since the 1970s.

"The political battles now breaking out here could be a foretaste of the water wars that scientists and policymakers have warned us will be commonplace in the coming decades. The emergency water-saving measures Barcelona adopted after winter rains failed for a second year running have not been enough. The city has had to set up a "water bridge" and is shipping in water for the first time in the history of this great maritime city.
A tanker from Marseilles with 36 million litres of drinking water unloaded its first cargo this week, one of a mini-fleet contracted to bring water from the Rhone every few days for at least the next three months.

A striking image of the seriousness of the drought is provided by the emergence of a church from the waters of a drying reservoir. For 40 years, all you could see of the drowned village of Sant Roma was the belltower of its stone church, which peeped from time to time above the surface of the artificial lake in a valley flooded in the 1960s to supply Catalonia with water. This year falling water levels have revealed the 11th-century church in its entirety for the first time, attracting curious onlookers who walk round it on the reservoir's dusty bed. Spain's Socialist government recognises that climate change will intensify water shortages, and favours desalination plants. One such plant, among the biggest in Europe – and 75 per cent EU funded – is being built on the outskirts of Barcelona and will supply 20 per cent of the city's water. But it will not be ready until next year.
"It was already very important when it was planned, but now with the urgent drought, it has become indispensable," said Tomas Azurra, the chief engineer at the plant.
Ecologists warn that desalination plants are costly in energy use, and damage the environment with high CO2 emissions. But developed European regions can afford them, and they're preferable to diverting water from rivers, which critics say is even more damaging. " LINK