Tourists visiting Barcelona are told to shower less and avoid golf courses as city battles record drought

Tourists visiting Barcelona have been told to shower less and avoid golf courses as Catalonia battles record drought.

Residents in Barcelona have been told to limit daily water consumption to 200 litres per person, with emergency restrictions expected before the end of the month.

To put this in context, a five-minute shower on average uses between 75 and 90 litres. 

Under the new rules, golf clubs will be unable to water their grass and guest numbers in hotels will have to shrink, according to The Telegraph.

Despite being accustomed to hot summer months, Spaniards in recent years have seen a growing number of intense heat waves in other seasons, raising alarm among many scientists.

According to AEMET, the frequency of heat waves has tripled in the country over the past 10 years, and the summer weather season has increased by 10 days per decade since the 1980s. 

According to Reuters, rainfall in Spain has been around 17 per cent below the 30-year average.

As a result, reservoirs in some areas of Catalonia in the northeast and Andalucia in the south are currently thought to be at just 15 per cent capacity.

For the Catalan city, water bills increased earlier this month by 11-16 per cent, as well as in 22 other municipalities across the nation.

Catalan regional government spokeswoman Patricia Plaja said that it is likely that the region will enter an 'emergency situation' before the end of the month...'unless it rains abundantly in the next few days.' 

In December, it was reported that plans were being made to ship in between 20,000 and 30,000 hectoliters of water by to the metropolitan area of Barcelona, in an attempt to solve the problems associated with the ongoing drought. 

The Catalan government said that after 37 months with below-average rainfall, the situation of the reserves is critical. 

On top of this, the Catalonian government is deliberating whether to fine tourists for drinking too much water.

Several Catalan town councils have already received fines from the Catalan Water Agency for exceeding water consumption in September.

The town of Caldes de Malavella has received a fine of 24,181 euros for exceeding the then maximum consumption of 230 liters per inhabitant per day as 296.26 were consumed.

Caldes de Malavella is a town with 8,200 inhabitants that has two spas, several hotels, seven urbanisations and more than 100 kilometeres of pipes.