The Government of the Generalitat has decreed a state of exceptionality due to the serious drought situation in Catalonia. This was announced by the Government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, at a press conference in which the community entered a new phase in addressing the drought, the exceptionality of the Ter-Llobregat system and the Fluvià-Muga aquifer, which It directly affects almost six million citizens of 224 municipalities in 15 different regions.
The entry into the exceptional scenario represents a further step in the reduction of water in some uses, such as the 40% reduction of water for agricultural uses, the 15% reduction for industrial uses, the reduction of water for recreational uses ( 15% in assimilable uses and 50% in irrigation) and the prohibition of irrigation of green areas, both public and private (water will only be allowed to keep the trees alive and doing it drop by drop or with showers).
Likewise, cleaning streets with drinking water is prohibited. There is also a reduction in the average water supply per inhabitant and day. If in the alert scenario it was 250 liters per inhabitant per day, in exceptional cases it goes to 230 liters per inhabitant per day.
The Government is entering this new phase of measures due to the risk of shortages and because spring is approaching with a very low volume of reserves (27%) and without having recovered, due to the lack of rain.
Another measure announced this Tuesday is to increase the volume of water that is derived from the Sau reservoir towards the Susqueda reservoir to preserve the quality as much as possible and guarantee priority use, which is the supply of the population.
This implies that instead of releasing 0.3 hm3 of water per day, as is being done up to now, 0.5 hm3/day will be released. This measure will be maintained as long as the phenomenon of stratification does not occur, when the lower sludge of the reservoir mixes with the water.
The use of reclaimed water is another measure that is gaining weight in recent months. In December, with the alert phase activated, tests began to provide reclaimed water in the final stretch of the Llobregat and thus have more water available that must subsequently be made drinkable. 0.8 m3/s are being produced and this makes it possible to have more and to be able to preserve more reserves in the reservoirs.
Reclaimed water is also currently being provided for agricultural irrigation from the Llobregat canal, to guarantee irrigation demands. In the coming months, should the situation worsen, the contribution of this resource will increase. Another of the measures that could be activated between the months of May and June is the use of the Comtal ditch, with a contribution of 200 liters per second. In addition to the extraction of up to 300 liters of water per second from municipal drying wells.
At the end of November 2022, the ACA opened a call of these characteristics with an initial allocation of 800,000 euros, but it has been decided to increase the budget to 2 million euros (an amount that represents an increase of 150%). Over the next few weeks, the resolution of the ACA Directorate will be signed to certify this budget increase, given the high number of requests received (more than 80) due to the drought that Catalonia has been experiencing for two years.
The aid will make it possible to grant almost all of the requests received, and may be up to 95% of the total cost, taking into account that the percentage of the subsidy depends on the size of the population and applying a linear interpolation, with a limit of 100,000 euros.
The Consell de l’Administració de l’Agència Catalana de l’Aigua (ACA) plans to approve this Wednesday the entry into the exceptional phase. This has been endorsed by the Government this Tuesday after a new meeting of the Interdepartmental Drought Commission, in which the worsening of the situation of the reserves and the need to adopt new changes to guarantee the supply have been verified.
The Government has approved a decree law to protect water supplies, give legal status to expedite procedures, and to discourage and penalize possible non-compliance.
The Drought Commission (made up of the Presidency, Climate Action, Interior, Business, and Labor and Health departments) has endorsed the measures by noting that the decline in reserves continues, after 25 months without abundant rainfall in the headwaters of the rivers .
The Commission has addressed the proposal to activate new measures and strengthen coordination from all areas involved. In this sense, it is expected that this Wednesday the ACA will approve the activation of the exceptionality phase of the Ter-Llobregat system and the Fluvià-Muga aquifer, which will come into force once it has been published in the DOGC (predictably within 48 hours). ).
