Although the situation has improved in the recent weeks, Barcelona, Spain and its metro area is facing a severe drought, with water reserves that aren't expect to last until the end of the summer. The local governments made a plea to industries to reduce water consumption and Nissan, which has a plant in Barcelona's Zona Franca district and very close to the river Llobregat, is heeding the call.

Thanks to reusing water, the plant is expected to save 21.6 million liters of water in 2008 - a 20 percent improvement from 2007 figures. The main savings came from the paint section, where water is filtered and reused. This not only saves the precious liquid, but generates less waste water to be treated at the final filters before reaching the river and reduces electricity consumption from water pumps and the final treatment. Nissan claims that each car needs 51.5 percent less water to be produced than in 1998.

[Source: Nissan España]

Another airline has decided to give passengers the option to offset your carbon emissions when purchasing plane tickets. The latest carbon offset entrant is clickair, a low-cost company based in Barcelona, Spain. The story is that, due to Barcelona's airport placement between two lagoons and a protected area, the airline's carbon offsets take place close to El Prat de Llobregat airport, in a reserve by the Llobregat river.

Prices start at very acceptable levels (€ 3) and with low expectations: clickair expects to plant 250 trees through this program which will cover at least a little bit of the effects of its fleet of ten Airbus A320s.

[Source: Clickair]