The areas affected by extreme drought spread in Catalonia like an oil stain. The Generalitat has decided to extend the exceptional situation due to the drought to seven more areas of the internal basins, as announced by the Government after the celebration of the Consell Executiu.
The areas included in this situation are Anoia-Gaià , the head of the Ter, the Darnius-Boadella area, the Empordà , the Llobregat Mitjà , Prades-Llaberia and the Cordillera Transversal. This means that Catalonia goes from having 224 exceptional municipalities to having under this consideration 495 municipalities, which total approximately 6 million people. In all these areas, the corresponding measures will be applied, which have already been implemented throughout the central region of Catalonia and Girona served by the Ter and Llobregat reservoirs.
This means a cut of 40% of the endowments for irrigation, 15% for industrial uses and less resources for recreational uses, as well as the prohibition of irrigating green, public and private areas, with drinking water, with the same limitation. for street cleaning.
In all the territories affected by the exceptionality, the amount of water provided by the Generalitat in municipal tanks drops from 250 to 230 liters per person per day (considering all uses).
The director of l’Agència Catalana de l’Aigua (ACA), Samuel Reyes, stated that the rains this long weekend have been “positive, but still insufficient” to reverse the drought situation. In fact, they have served to provide a “slight respite” from the drought situation suffered by the entire central region and Girona, but they are far from having provided sufficient flows to get out of the exceptional situation.
The reserves of the reservoirs have gained more than 2 cubic hectometres, therefore, between the rate of unloading and the reduction in needs, it is estimated that this would provide reserves for a week and a half; However, if the runoff that has yet to reach the reservoirs is added (up to a total of 2 to 3 cubic hectometres), resources could be scratched for about two weeks in total, according to the director of the Agencia Catalana de l’Aigua. On the other hand, it is expected that another episode of rain will be recorded by the weekend.
The rainfall over the weekend occurred at the headwaters of the Ter and Llobregat, just where they are most needed, but they still did not have the necessary importance. On Monday they already moved towards Vallès and Maresme.
In the current situation, and in a more negative scenario (with a total absence of rainfall), the Barcelona region could enter an emergency situation at the beginning of September, although this is a mobile scenario depending on the new contributions. In the emergency situation, domestic restrictions would have to be applied for basic services (such as pressure reduction in pipes, time cuts and others).
“We would need the entire month of May to be this way to get out of this exceptionality and for all the municipalities that are not connected to supra-municipal networks and that depend on aquifers to benefit,” he added.
“We need it to rain for three consecutive weeks constantly, permanently and not torrentially; at least to recover a certain normality â€, indicate other ACA sources. The rainfall has served to level the ground, which is very dry, which will benefit the vegetation.
Meanwhile, the Generalitat, according to Reyes, maintains its support plan for municipalities with subsidies totaling 50 million euros, so that they can guarantee the supply and, at the same time, can comply with their emergency plans in the face of drought. Work sessions are finalizing how these resources can be optimized, which should serve to define the best possible actions; Among these would be a reduction in water pressure, flow reduction, remote sensing and specific works to solve the problems of leaks in the pipes.
