A drought in Spain that has wrecked crops and sparked forest fires could be the beginning of a dry spell spanning years, the country's environment minister said on Wednesday. Spain and neighbouring Portugal are suffering their worst droughts in at least 60 years, forcing the authorities to impose water restrictions and denting hydroelectric power generation, Reuters reported. The last severe drought lasted about five years in the 1990s and Environment Minister Cristina Narbona said the government was working on the assumption that this year was not a one-off. "We have to work, as we are, thinking that it is very probable that next year will also be a dry year," she told reporters after meeting her Portuguese counterpart Francisco Nunes Correia about common water resources. "The Spanish government is working with the idea that a new drought cycle could be starting." The drought, which has also affected southwestern France, has prompted water restrictions in some areas of Spain while villages near the Pyrenees are receiving water by tanker trucks, officials said on Wednesday. The whole of Portugal is in extreme or severe drought and forest fires have burned about 38,500 hectares (95,130 acres).
