GREENPEACE'S latest report warns that a third of Spain's territory is at risk of becoming desert and up to 75% of the country's land is 'vulnerable'.
The paper, Drought: More than lack of rainfall says the effects of climate change in Spain are the 'most worrying and severe' on the continent.
At the time of the report, reservoirs were down to 37.3% of capacity after the driest spring since 1965 – with rainfall 23% below normal – and the least rain year-round in over 22 years.
But this week, it was reported that water levels had dropped once again, to 36.5%.
Reservoirs in Spain have lost 129 cubic hectometres (1.29 million litres) of water in less than a week, or around 0.2% of their capacity.
Rivers in particular risk include the Segura, through Alicante and Murcia, now only 13.5% full, and the Júcar, through Valencia and Castellón, at 24.9% full.
The Canada-based environmental charity says 'poor water management' and policies that 'have not worked to mitigate dry periods and desertification' are to blame almost as much as the lack of rainfall.
“Spain has lived and legislated as though it were a country with an endless supply of water,” Greenpeace states.
The Mediterranean and the Canary Islands are the most at-risk areas for desertification, and yet the former has historically seen spring and winter monsoons – known as a gota fría – keeping it green and its reservoirs topped up whilst the centre of the mainland rarely saw a drop.
But the last five or six years has seen the typical seasonal storms pass over the Mediterranean completely.
As far back as 2005, the Gallocanta Lagoon in the province of Zaragoza was already suffering the effects of drought, and by 2007 it was almost empty, whilst the Tablas de Daimiel wetlands (second picture) in the province of Ciudad Real, which has capacity for up to 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) of its surface to be filled with water, was down to a quarter by November – 500 hectares, or 1,236 acres.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com