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Andalucia’s reservoirs low
the remains of the spill on the Rinconcillo beach and called on Gibraltar to take responsibility for this situation.
Landaluce recalled that he has been warning of the danger of the ship remaining aground. It is a warning that: “the governments of Spain and Gibraltar have ignored,” he insisted. “These problems are the result of these mistakes,” the mayor stressed.
The mayor reported that since early on Thursday morning, work had been carried out to remove the fuel oil deposits that had appeared on the coast.
To tip or not to tip? New system dispute
THE system of tipping that exists when paying a restaurant bill in countries like the United States appears to be catching on in Spain. There are already reports in recent months of establishments in big cities like Madrid and Barcelona operating in this fashion towards their customers.
Some are known to be asking their customers for an extra 5 or 10 per cent of the total cost of the meal. This is a practice that has never existed in Spanish restaurants before. While the hospitality industry claims that it is not mandatory to leave a tip, many consumers believe that this action ‘somehow replaces decent wages’.
The bills being given by the restaurants in question allegedly show the total without a tip, and then the amount with a suggested percentage of 5, 8 or 10 per cent, while some offer the option of a free tip at the customer’s discretion.
SPEAKING on Thursday, April 6, Ramón Fernández Pacheco, the minister of Sustainability and spokesman for the Andalucian government, said that the data on the levels of the reservoirs in Andalucia cannot be described as “anything other than dramatic” as none of the basins currently reaches 30 per cent of their capacity.
“Andalucia today has more than 500 cubic hectometres less than we had the same week last year,” the minister stressed during an institutional visit to the town hall of Gador in Almería.
He continued: “We have been experiencing a series of months in which it has hardly rained and this has had a series of consequences that we are all noticing. In the agricultural sector, it is more evident, but also in the natural envi ronments themselves that are suffering from this drought, as well as for industry and tourism.”
Fernández Pacheco stressed that water is “fundamental” for Andalucia. Given the state of the reservoirs, the responsible public administrations can only “invest, invest and invest in infrastructures that make us more resistant to this drought situation,” he emphasised, as reported by a news source.
He also referred to climate change and its effects, such as the lack of rain and the high temperatures that are being recorded in an “unusual way for the time of year.” All of this contributes to a greater risk of forest fires he pointed out.