Spain cancels emergency scheme to bring water to Barcelona

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

MADRID (AFP) — The Spanish government said Friday it has cancelled a 180-million-euro (280-million-dollar) scheme to channel water from the river Ebro to the Barcelona region, after heavy rains eased drought fears.

Deputy premier Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the government decided the scheme was "no longer necessary."

Under the scheme announced in April, an existing pipeline that channels water from the Ebro to the city of Tarragona was to be extended up to Barcelona, capital of the north-eastern region of Catalonia.

But heavy rains across Spain last month replenished reservoirs and reduced the risk of a drought that had threatened several regions.

The government said on Tuesday reservoirs in Catalonia were up to 47 percent of capacity from...