Susqueda Dam and the serious water shortage

This is a perfect day trip from either Girona or Barcelona and offers a combination of unspoilt countryside with the old medieval town of Rupit or the market town of Angles nearby. The first side trip from the main Angles to Olot road is up to the Susqueda dam, a dam built in the 50's to supply water to Girona, the Costa Brava and Barcelona. The lack of rain during the last years has made water an increasingly important issue, with restrictions being threatened for all of the communities mentioned above in the short term unless some pretty major rainfalls occur this spring. The road borders the river that flows from the dam to the River Ter in the valley below but as the dam is barely releasing any water the river is pretty meagre. Once you arrive at the dam itself and head out along the walkway it becomes very clear how much water is missing, the latest count puts Susqueda at only 22% of capacity and it is a sad sight seeing the shortfall from the exposed sides of the surrounding hills. Water restrictions appear almost inevitable and have set Girona against Barcelona as the former do not see any reason to be cut off first for water they consider theirs. Barcelona has seen the writing on the wall and is already bringing in barge fulls of water from the Rhone in France at what can only be an outrageous cost to the tax payer. This situation and the political consequences are likely to get worse before it gets better and with the global warming predictions as well how it will end remains to be seen but everyone needs to do their bit and save as much water as possible.