Half of Portugal Is in Severe Drought, and Another Half Is In Extreme

Several southern European countries are sharing the same pain: the lack of water. On my trip to Italy, all my friends also told me how the drought kept Italians on alert, and a few weeks later, the largest Italian river dried up.

Also, on the Iberian Peninsula, the largest river, the Tagus, which originates in Spain and flows into Lisbon, Portugal, is facing a similar situation with parts of the river that you can now cross on foot.

There is no memory of this ever happening; not even in conversations with my 89-year-old grandfather can he remember such a hot summer and lack of water as now.

Today on the news, the alert sounded immediately, with an alarming headline but one that has been going on for a few weeks now. Half of Portugal is in severe drought and another in extreme drought;

In other words, we are all in a state of calamity; some are in despair and others in horrible despair.

On the news, the name of my town was pronounced as one of the places where the water is about to fail, and at the same time, almost like a lie, my neighbor was washing his car, letting the water run down the road.

The largest dam in the entire district of Viseu, to which I belong, has only 14% of its capacity; if it doesn’t rain in the next two months, the dam will dry up completely.

August in Portugal is always a very boring month. Most people are on holiday, want to relax, and don’t want to worry; clearly, many are unaware of this news.

To make matters worse, every Portuguese knows the phenomenon of the month of August: the mass influx of Portuguese emigrants living in France, Luxembourg, or Switzerland. And in case you think there aren’t many, there’s a joke in Portugal that Paris is the second largest Portuguese city, as there are about two million Portuguese there, more than in the city of Oporto.

Portugal gains a third more life in the month of August, which means more pressure on resources, more cars, and obviously more water consumed. The problem gets worse exactly the same way; holidays make you forget your problems. But it’s not because we want them to disappear that this will happen.

An hour ago, a mayor of one of the municipalities, suffering more from the lack of water, was interviewed by national tv. He earnestly asked the population to save water, not to wash cars, not fill swimming pools, and to try to control their personal hygiene better.

But, it seems that all this has come too late. And once again, as if the power cuts were not enough, now we’re faced with the problem of the lack of water, all intrinsically linked.

But all these warnings should have been done way sooner. We let life go on, and when it almost breaks down, that’s when the real concern is born, because until then, we once again hope that water will fall from the sky and that everything will be miraculously solved by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Still, in my district, another alarming image was shown. Firemen trucks transporting water to the supply centers of several villages. As alarming, if not more disturbing than the news itself, was the fact that this has been going on for several weeks, but without the knowledge of the population, who continue to go about their normal lives, unaware that the water that flows from their tap has not come from their land for a long time.

This is completely unsustainable: having lorries that run for kilometers, clearly powered by diesel, polluting the atmosphere in order to transport water and supply villages… It wouldn’t fit into anyone’s head, but it’s the only solution found in the short term.

The soil all over Portugal is under enormous stress, with drilling taking place to try and extract water in unthinkable places, animals coming out of the forests and invading farms to find water and entire populations going about their lives practically unaware of their own misfortune.

Meanwhile, several local authorities are admitting to cutting off or reducing water at night, but all this is already happening at the limit. I wonder why there hasn’t been an awareness campaign since January when the country evidently began to show signs of serious drought. But no, we seem to like to dramatize the designations even further and go from serious to “severe drought” to “extreme drought.”

What if it doesn’t rain in two months, which is quite natural? What are the supply plans or even plans to flee to other places? There are none.

There is only the hope that clouds will appear, that water will fall, and that we will get out of this nightmare.

But it’s August — people don’t want to worry. They want to go to swimming pools, wash their cars, take long-lasting cold water baths, and flush every time they take a piss — seriously, do we need to flush it every time?

People continue living their lives this way. We just don’t know until when they’ll be able to do it.

Hello, I’m Araci, a female writer from Portugal. I like to write about my country, Portugal. But I also enjoy pop culture, American culture, and cultural differences. I hope you’ve enjoyed this article!

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