WATCH: Ken Browne reports from Spain on the growing water crisis

"This is criminal; we can't go on like this much longer," Emilio Marquez says as he fills six- and eight-liter bottles of water from the back of his truck.

It's 5 p.m. in the town of Belmez in Cordoba, the hottest time of day, and a steady flow of people come to fill water bottles from a huge container that serves various towns in the area.

‌Belmez has relied on water deliveries for over two months. The Sierra Boyera reservoir is just a four-minute drive away but that's been empty since April. Its low levels have killed thousands of fish and the water was deemed unsafe for human consumption.

‌"It was a Dantean scene," the town's deputy mayor Antonio Luis Vargas tells CGTN. "Thousands of dead fish – it was dramatic, all those fish..."

The Sierra Boyera served fresh water to 80,000 people plus agriculture and local industry, but without significant rains in years, hasn't been full since 2018.

Bad smells and dirty water

‌Spain is facing severe water shortages, with reservoirs drying up across the country and restrictions in place in many areas.

The water that comes out of the tap is "dirty and smells bad," people waiting to refill say.‌ Leaflets pasted to walls warn that the water causes rashes and irritations on babies' skin.

‌"A town with no water has no future," Luis Vargas adds.‌ "That's obvious.

"This used to be a mining area, but the mines were closed by the politicians. Now all that's left is agriculture, livestock and crop farming, and without water that won't survive either."

‌A dead reservoir

‌A visit to the reservoir is a stark reminder that Spain is on the frontline of the climate emergency.

‌Cracked earth on the ground, lines on the bridge walls where the water once reached; it's a dry, empty, surreal scene.

Rafael, who was born and raised in Belmez, talks of happier times on the reservoir. "We have a watersports club here. People went fishing, swimming – there was a lot of activity on the reservoir.

"It's so sad to see it like this; a reservoir that gives water to so many people, so many towns like ours. Imagine it, 70 or 80,000 people in the same situation as us."

‌Europe heating up

Record wildfires across Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy and the western Mediterranean region have raised alarms on a continent that's heating at twice the rate of the rest of the world.

‌Europe is enduring its driest period in 500 years and Spain is at the core of the water crisis.‌ The growing water scarcity isn't confined to the south of the country either. The Sau reservoir in Catalonia went viral when a 1,000-year-old building appeared as the reservoir dried up.

‌Agriculture, tourism, wildlife and national parks are all at risk.

Illegal pumping of water to greenhouses is a problem in national parks like the Tablas de Daimiel on the La mancha plain. Even NASA has warned that the prized Doñana wetlands in the southwest are in danger – along with its many protected and endangered species.

‌A biodiversity disaster is in the making if nothing is done.

‌Water conflict goes political

‌The lack of water has become political too, split along Spain's left-right divide. The right sides with local farmers and industry, with the left in line with EU climate action policy.

‌On the campaign trail the far-right VOX party leader Santiago Abascal railed against "scientists in their universities and EU politicians in Brussels" making decisions on the Spanish countryside.

‌The EU has threatened to withdraw funding if the Doñana wetlands do not receive the protections agreed in the European parliament.

‌With Spain's recent elections resulting in no-one being able to form a government, the environmental direction of the country is uncertain.

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'Fighting to the end'

‌Emilio Marquez takes the freshly bottled water packed into his pick-up to the older residents in the town. An elderly woman answers the door with her grandson and agreed to speak.

‌"It's sad seeing the town like this," she says. "There are a lot of older people who can't manage as well as the young. The civil protection service has to help us, people like Emilio do amazing work for us.

"It's very sad, very sad," she adds. "But can we do anything to change nature? It's difficult."

There are some solutions proposed. One is for ozone treatment to make the water in the taps drinkable.‌ Another is to complete a canal project to bring water from another reservoir to the Sierra Boyera.

‌Antonio Luis Vargas and the Belmez town hall are defiant despite it all.

‌"Of course we're going to fight for the town; that's what we're here for," they say. "We'll fight to the end for our neighbors – that's our job."

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