Many people were drawn to the town of Vacarisses, near Barcelona, in the 1970s by the suburban dream of homes with large gardens and swimming pools to provide respite during long, hot summers.
But now that lifestyle is under threat as a severe drought forces authorities to reach for increasingly stringent measures to conserve water, including restrictions on filling pools.
A law expected to come into force in coming days will bar residents in the northeastern region of Catalonia, including Vacarisses, from refilling empty pools even as an abnormally warm spring suggests the coming summer will be equal in ferocity to last
