The rains in May and June have meant a certain relief in dealing with the current drought situation in the Barcelona region and all of Catalonia’s internal basins. At least, they make it possible to remove the specter of the dreaded domestic restrictions a little. If precipitation were to remain at its historically low level, “the most severe restrictions related to the emergency (domestic consumption) would be delayed until November”, Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Agency of the Water (ACA).
The end of spring and the beginning of summer have given a balloon of oxygen to the administrations in charge of water management. But the situation is far from normal. The Ter and Llobregat reservoirs, which supply the central region, are at 31%; only six points have been gained from their lowest levels recorded at the worst time.
May has had average records in its level of precipitation, while June has rained above average. “The situation has been better than expected”, says Reyes. The fact that the land was already moistened or soaked has favored the gradual increase in water reserves. In the Sau reservoir (Ter), they only increased to 10 hm3 in May, while in June it has already increased to 30 hm3. The level of the Llobregat reservoirs in May continued with a flat encephalogram, while in June this rise in levels was already appreciated.
Despite this, it has barely rained in Camp de Tarragona and Empordà. The reservoirs of Siurana, Darnius and Riudecanyes are going down; on the other hand, the Segre area, in Oliana and Rialb, has quite recovered the levels.
“We had an optimal month of June which allows us to postpone the emergency by a couple of months. If previously our forecast was that we would enter a state of emergency at the end of August, now we place it in November. In other words, these rains have given us room in the months of September and October”, declares Samuel Reyes, director of the ACA. The rains have given a “cushion” of between two and two and a half months.
However, the level of drought alert has not changed. The exceptional situation continues. The restrictions now affect the agricultural, industrial and livestock sectors, fundamentally, in addition to the irrigation of gardens, green areas and street cleaning. But if it were to enter an emergency phase (with reservoirs at 16%), it would go a step further, water supplies per capita per day would be reduced and the domestic sphere itself would be affected. “We continue to be exceptional because right now, when the rains end, the strongest period of irrigation begins”, says Reyes. While in winter the reserves fall little by little, in summer the decline is very pronounced. “That’s why we maintain the degree of exceptionality”, he says, waiting to assess the situation in the months of September or October. At the moment, 495 municipalities are in a situation of exceptionality.
Samuel Reyes emphasizes that it is not appropriate to sing of victory or to be carried away by unjustifiable optimism. “We must not be fooled by the rains in June. We must not think that the situation is already normal. With the rain of a month or a month and a half we do not solve the problem that has been brewing for 30 months”, he adds.
The director of the ACA emphasizes that the situation is far from normal, since the objective is not only to guarantee domestic supply, but also economic activities, and these are of great importance in many small municipalities.
“In the internal basins, almost 50% of the water is used for domestic purposes, and that is why our individual action is very important. Now in the summer we have to make good use of water”, he concludes. Last summer, consumption soared by 10% in a context of high temperatures. “We must maintain the savings we have achieved in recent months”, he emphasizes.
The main supply problems will occur in municipalities that are not connected to the large upstream supply networks (Ter-Llobregat) and that depend on their own local resources. These municipalities include Espluga de Francolí or Cabrera d’Anoia (whose wells were drying up and emergency works are being carried out to connect them to the ATL system).
One reason for “precaution” is that when the reservoir level drops too much, many Solsonès municipalities may have supply problems because their pumps may remain above the water level of the reservoir. Likewise, the municipalities of Moianès and Anoia that do not have supra-municipal networks may have problems.
Supply in the Barcelona region has been able to be maintained mainly thanks to non-conventional flows; that is to say, those from the desalination plants and the regenerated water from the El Prat station, from where flows are pumped upstream to be potable in Sant Joan Despí. It is now almost a year since the two desalination plants have been operating at 100%. This means that 80 cubic hectometres have been produced in one year, which is more than what is in the Susqueda reservoir.
Water regeneration makes it possible to use 1,500 liters per second. This is almost the same as the Prat desalination plant (2,000 l/s). “We are almost equalizing the flow rates of desalination”, highlights Reyes.
On the other hand, the 20 water regeneration plants have also been key for street cleaning, for support irrigation in some agricultural areas and for the maintenance of environmental flows and wetlands, given that they have produced more than 60 hm3 in 2022.
This week the Government will publish an aid order with subsidies worth 50 million euros to improve the efficiency of strictly municipal networks, with two purposes. One is to fix the leaks they suffer (losses that cause them to lose a lot of water and force them to change some pipes in the streets). And, secondly, we want to sectorize local networks to be able to know, control and manage them better. Auscultation systems are subsidized to detect leaks and repair them. The regulation of the pressure systems will even be subsidized so that the water reaches the houses homogeneously. Aigües de Manresa is doing tests so that, despite lowering the pressure, the flow reaches everywhere but consumes much less. It is about checking whether it is possible to save water without affecting the service.
In addition, a subsidy line of 40 million euros must be resolved to increase the supply, so that many municipalities can open new wells and have new treatments.
It is expected that this month some pending actions claimed by Agbar in the area of ??Sant Just and Sant Joan Despí, where new wells, pipelines and new treatments must be built (with an investment of 105 million), and the projects of which the ACA must authorize.
