The Government responds to the EC requirement and approves the water management plan

The Generalitat de Catalunya approved yesterday, with more than five months of delay, the water management plan for the internal basins of Catalonia for the period 2022-2027. The Catalan Executive thus resolved the European demand after the European Commission opened a file against Spain because Catalonia – as well as Andalusia and the Canary Islands – had not reviewed, adopted and informed on time about the water management plans for all their river basins.

The Catalan Government triples the investment for the planned period in relation to the 2016-2021 stage: from 950 million euros to 2,437 million. With this script, he intends to ensure the water supply in the face of “increasingly extreme and frequent meteorological phenomena”, such as droughts and floods. Some 2,000 million are provided by the Generalitat (1,400, the ACA) and the rest, the State (37 million) and local entities (250).

“They are not only a necessary response to the current drought situation, but the money needed to promote a new culture of water,” said the spokesperson for the Catalan Executive, Patrícia Plaja, and the director of the Agència Catalana de l’ at a press conference. Aigua (ACA), Samuel Reyes.

The sanction warning was issued by the European Commission a month ago. The Government had already gotten down to work before, but it was not until yesterday when it finalized a plan in accordance with the European directive. As reported by the Catalan Executive, it is intended to improve efficiency and increase water production to solve the water deficit, guarantee the population the demand for water, and not depend so much on rain. In the same way, it is expected to increase the production of reclaimed water and more resources will be incorporated for the desalination method. This is so to the point that the Government affirms that its objective is to double the capacity of both desalination and regeneration.

A new desalination plant (69 hm3) is planned in Blanes, the extension of the existing one and 25 regeneration plants to reuse purified water in the internal basins of Catalonia. It is also planned to increase the use of groundwater from the Besòs River (expansion of the current water treatment plant on the right bank using a reverse osmosis filter, construction of more wells and use of surface water from the river).

The management plan is important. The forecasts are not good. The Agència Catalana de l’Aigua (ACA) foresees that, with a view to 2050, the availability of water in Catalonia will be reduced by up to 18%.

The organization considers the capacity for self-sufficiency relevant in the face of water scarcity, although the ACA only manages 40% of the resources in Catalonia. The rest is in state hands, in charge of the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation (CHE). The area managed by the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua, however, accounts for 90% of the population.

The measures are broken down into four main axes. Some 866 million euros will be allocated to the achievement of environmental objectives, improving sanitation actions or management of diffuse pollution. Another 1,417 million will be for actions designed to increase the availability, regeneration and modernization of irrigation in internal basins. Outside of them, it should be remembered that the Government of the Generalitat has demanded an investment of 1,200 million from Moncloa for the modernization of the d’Urgell canal, closed for irrigation in the entire Catalan water area managed by the State.

The other two investments are minor, but also relevant. Some 150 million euros will be allocated to actions to prevent and reduce floods, and 3.6 million will be formulated to promote research and development in the integral water cycle.

Reyes stressed that, from May 8 to 14, up to 100 liters per square meter have fallen in some points, especially at the headwaters of the Ter. “Pluviometry is expected to be above average for the rest of May,” he said, although he immediately recalled that the latest records “do not compensate for the 32 months of drought.”

As reported by the director of the ACA, the Sau reservoir has increased its capacity by seven hectometres since April 1. But the Susqueda reservoir has been reduced by 10 hectometres. The Baells has remained stable and the Cardener basin has not undergone major changes. In short, “we find the reserves like three or four weeks ago and it gives us room for actions while waiting for autumn”, when the rains should be more common, Reyes pointed out.