No rain in Spain, and water comes by truck

A water company employee fills bottles with potable water, in Pozoblanco, Spain. The struggle for drinking water in this village of 18,000 has become a glimpse of what may lie ahead for parts of europe where drought and extreme heat are on the rise. — ©2023 The New york Times Company

IT WAS 10am when the villagers, clutching empty plastic containers, lined up behind the tanker truck of drinking water. A cake shop owner arrived with four big jugs for his pastries.

Workers from a retirement home carried two dozen bottles back on wheelchairs for their wards. And a mother of four loaded her trunk with fresh water to wash vegetables and cook pasta.