The image displays the dry riverbed of the Rajadell stream in its stretch of the ice pit below the slope of L’Agneta, between the pool of Els Esparvers pool and Can Poc Oli, in mid-October 2022. The stream has just stagnant water in the larger pools as the in Els Esparvers and Les Escaletes. On the surface, there is no circulating water at all. Water does not flow to the Cardener river. In summer, low water level can be expected in streams of Mediterranean regions, though not drying up, even less in autumn. In the 1960s, people from Manresa used to bath and swim in the stream of Rajadell in summer. In 2022, this is not possible even in autumn, when the peak of rain is expected according to data records from the 20th century. The irregularity and scarcity of rainfall resulting from global climate change, coupled with the increasing water extraction for human use and the growth of the forest that retains and transpires water, sum up to dry the stream.
The aquatic environment vanishes.
[photo Jordi Badia]
- See also the stream of Rajadell dry in 01.01.2018.