Barcelona received its first seaborne shipment of drinking water yesterday, part of an unprecedented emergency plan to tackle the city's worst drought in decades.

The tanker carrying five million gallons (23 million litres) of water from nearby Tarragona is just the first to help to alleviate the growing shortages in one of Spain's top tourist destinations, which has already resulted in hosepipes being banned and many fountains turned off.

One reservoir has fallen to such a low level that the remains of a village flooded in 1962 have reappeared.

Other water shipments are due from the French city of Marseilles, and, in August, from a desalination plant in Almería, on the south coast.

A total of 66 shipments a month are expected to arrive in Barcelona this summer, providing about 6 per cent of the region's water needs, at a cost of €21 million (£17 million) a month. Additional shipments may come by rail from other parts of Spain.

Other emergency measures that the regional government of Catalonia will take to prevent the northeastern Spanish region from running out of drinking water will include diverting the mouth of the Ebro river. This has caused anger in the region of Aragón, pitting Spanish neighbours against each other in what the country's media has called “the water war”.

Some critics, including the region's leading business group, said that the shipments would harm Catalonia's image abroad and still fail to alleviate the problem.

“Bringing a boat filled with water should be the last resort,” said Miguel Ángel Fraile, president of the Catalan Federation of Commerce, who called the measures alarmist. “It is the expression of a complete failure [of government] that neither Barcelona or Catalonia deserve.”

Mr Fraile pointed out that yesterday's shipment would provide water for 180,000 people for a single day, when the problem affects millions.

The Mediterranean region of Catalonia has been facing its worst springtime drought since records began 60 years ago. Recent rains have helped a little, filling the reservoirs to 27 per cent of their capacity from only 19 per cent a month ago.

Rain is forecast this week, raising hopes that the expected disaster facing the region's agricultural industry could be averted.

Barcelona's hoteliers said that there was still a risk that they could face water restrictions during their peak season. While the shipments might hurt Barcelona's image abroad, “it is the least of all evils, and one that we can deal with”, said Jordi Clos, president of the Hoteliers Union of Barcelona. It would be far worse for hotels to be left without water, he added.

Spain as a whole is facing its worst drought in decades, at a time when demand for water has soared. The population has risen from 40 million to 45 million since 2000 because of immigration, and millions of new homes, swimming pools and golf courses have been built on Spain's driest coastal areas.

Not all parts of the country have been affected equally. Catalonia and Valencia have shortages while northern regions of “Green Spain” are well supplied. The Basque Country has had to let water out of its reservoirs to stop them from overflowing.

Soon after taking power in 2004, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Prime Minister, scrapped a grand plan by José María Aznar, his predecessor, to divert water permanently from the Ebro river in the north to parched regions such as Valencia, Alicante, Murcia and Almería.

Now the Government has been forced to return to the plan - albeit on a temporary and much reduced scale. It has controversially given the Catalan authorities the green light to build a ¤180 million pipeline down the centre of a motorway that will take water from the Ebro river to slake Barcelona's thirst.

Catalonia is also building a desalination plant that will produce the equivalent of two months' consumption each year. It will not be ready until next May at the earliest.

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