The Government’s intergovernmental drought commission will study today, Tuesday, whether to lift the emergency due to the drought, which, if materialized, would mean a relaxation of the restrictions on the uses of water. Reserves in the region of Barcelona and Girona, served by Ter and Llobregat, have increased to 25% of maximum capacity, which is close to the level established as the threshold that would allow overcoming the most acute phase of the drought.
The Government analyzes the situation when the recovery of water resources in the central region of Catalonia and the Costa Brava is remarkable. The Ter and Llobregat reservoirs now store 151 cubic hectometres, 60 cubic hectometres more than they had at the beginning of March, when they reached their lowest level. This means that bookings have increased by 65% ??since then.
The gain of 60 hectometres is equivalent to the entire production of drinking water over the course of a year at the El Prat desalination plant. The emergency situation due to drought mainly affects the central region of Barcelona, ??where there are 202 municipalities with around six million inhabitants. Likewise, the area served by the Darnius Boadella, on which a dozen localities depend, are in a level II emergency situation.
Municipalities in emergency level 1 have established a maximum allocation of water served by the Generalitat of 200 liters per person per day. In addition, they have strong restrictions on the use of water in the industrial, agricultural and livestock spheres, and they can neither fill nor refill swimming pools (including those of hotels, communities of neighbors and campsites, unless they are declared climate shelters by the councils, which is not happening).
The Councilor for Climate Action, David Mascort, pointed out a few days ago that in order to lift the emergency, the Ter and Llobregat system would have to reach 165 hm3 (which would mean putting these reservoirs at 27% of capacity).
However, despite the possible change in the situation, the head of Acció Climàtica was cautious last week: “What we will certainly not do is lift the emergency and, after 15 days, enter it again. We have to assess the consumption of the entire summer, the needs of the irrigators of each of the units. We must be able to present scenarios in the medium term”, he added.
Meanwhile, the Darnius Boadella reservoir, in the Empordà area, is the most critical unit, although reserves have risen by 16.18%.
In Ter, the Sau reservoir has gone from being practically empty to growing up to 12.7%, although its flows are transferred to the neighboring Susqueda reservoir, which has also grown, up to 26.4%. The Sant Ponç and La Baells reservoirs (in the Llobregat basin) are at 32.3% and 37.2%.
