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Although the temperatures are set to plummet over the next few days and stormy weather is forecast in many regions, the rain is still stubbornly refusing to fall in the most drought-parched areas. After repeated pleas from the agricultural sector, the government is set to approve a new royal decree law on Thursday May 11 to alleviate the effects of the ongoing drought.

 

The bulk of the measures approved by the Council of Ministers will be designed to help farmers but the Ministry of Labour has also tabled the idea of prohibiting certain physical outdoor work during extreme heat episodes, when the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has issued an orange or red weather warning.

 

The package of measures will be very similar to the one that was implemented last summer, according to Teresa Ribera, Minister for the Ecological Transition, who assured that the government isn’t considering water restrictions for the general population.

 

“The limitations of use are made by the local authorities with the guidelines given by the Hydrographic Conferences. That decision is not made by the Council of Ministers,” she explained.

 

One of the measures likely to be adopted comes from the decree for the prevention of occupational risk in the event of heatwaves.

 

The idea is to prohibit certain jobs outdoors (such as street cleaning or waste collection) when there are temperature warnings due to extreme and important risk (red and orange), or the reduction or modification of working hours.

 

The region of Andalusia will also allow school children to finish their classes at 12 noon, to avoid being out at the hottest part of the day.

 

According to the Aemet alert system, different regions become high risk at different temperatures, so there won’t be a particular temperature at which outwork work will have to be halted.

 

For example, in the countryside of Cordoba, the significant risk begins at 40ºC, while the extreme risk doesn’t hit until 44ºC is reached.

 

On the other hand, in the Aran Valley, these same categories are reached at 37 and 40ºC, respectively.

 

 

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