Andalucia’s reservoirs low

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 sec ­ tor, it is more evident, but also in the natural environments 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.