The Catalan Camping Federation asks that the swimming pools in its complexes be considered facilities of economic interest and that they can remain open during the tourist season, despite the drought situation. The sector demands an urgent meeting with the Councilor for Climate Action, David Mascort. They ask that the campsites that present a water saving plan, equivalent to that used by the industries, can ease the restrictions approved by the Government of the Generalitat, against which they have also presented an administrative appeal to the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC).
The sector maintains that the Special Drought Plan and awareness campaigns “have resulted in an avalanche of inquiries from customers”. They fear that if the situation continues and the pools cannot be used, there will be cancellations and job losses. They also regret that “the efforts that have been made in recent years to save water are now useless and the swimming pools cannot be filled”.
The federation, which represents 70% of the total campsites in Catalonia, recorded 20 million overnight stays last year (from 4.1 million tourists), with an economic impact on the territory of 2,103 million. The president of the entity, Miquel Gotanegra, has requested a meeting with the department to explain the situation and the sector’s indignation. They work so that swimming pools are considered an economical installation, and not a luxury equipment.
In the letter they sent to the minister, the sector regrets that the latest regulations published by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) establish the prohibition of filling swimming pools with fresh water, “without discriminating whether they are domestic or they are linked to an economic activity, with the comparative grievance that it is allowed to partially fill the covered swimming pools registered in the census of sports facilities of the Generalitat or those for therapeutic use…”. To resolve this grievance, the sector proposes that companies [campsites] that present an improvement plan with specific water-saving measures can request a favorable resolution from the ACA or the corresponding administration in order to apply a lower reduction than those generally established in the Special Drought Plan. In this way they could continue to maintain the water level necessary to keep the pools open, a service they consider “basic” for the facilities.
98% of the federated campsites have, by the way, a swimming pool with surfaces that, for the most part, are less than 100 square meters and 74% use water reuse systems or their own sewage treatment plants. “The maintenance of the level of the swimming pools represents only 2% of the total water consumption of a campsite”, they allege.
