WORLD : Lourdes Imposes Water Limits

PARIS — Water from the spring at Lourdes, one of the world’s most famous shrines, is being rationed to pilgrims for the first time because of heavy consumption, officials announced today.

Previously, the more than 4 million pilgrims who visit Lourdes each year were allowed to take away with them as much of the spring water as they could carry, spokesman Loic Bondu said.

Under the new rules, visitors will be asked to take no more than one small container to ensure that enough water is available to refill the pools in which ailing pilgrims bathe, seeking a cure. Bondu said the pools require 3,960 gallons of water a day.

Lourdes, according to Roman Catholic tradition, is the site where the Virgin Mary appeared 18 times in five months before a poor, 14-year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.