The hoteliers of the Maresme, with a tourist plant of more than 30,000 beds, are not prepared to lose the season due to the restrictions decreed by the drought situation and demand freedom of movement to look for alternative solutions, which could involve the purchase of mobile desalination stations that allow the filling of swimming pools.
The professionals in the Maresme sector reacted with indignation to the words of the Tourism officials of the representatives of the Generalitat, who in a recent appearance in Calella denied the possibility of acquiring desalination stations to be able to fill the swimming pools during the tourist season. It is not understood that, from one department, they prohibit the use of this desalinated water to fill swimming pools and from another department, such as the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), this possibility is taken into account , which is why they demand that “the administrations come to an agreement and not offer an image of bewilderment in the face of the extreme emergency situation”.
As detailed in the Maresme Regional Council, the bases for subsidies for water efficiency from the same Department of Tourism provide for the possibility that the establishments affected by the restrictions can opt for alternative solutions, such as the acquisition of mobile desalination stations , as proposed by the hoteliers of Lloret. “However, the department is not there for the job, despite the fact that we have not asked them for money” they point out.
From Turisme de la Generalitat, as explained by the hoteliers themselves, an investment line was announced to improve the efficiency of tourist establishments. The bases of these grants provide for the acquisition of desalination plants with a maximum institutional contribution of 300,000 euros. “Currently we can find desalination plants for 700,000 euros” so that the entrepreneurs would be in favor of passing on the cost of the remaining 400,000 euros between the hotels and the Tourism Promotion Consortium, which depends on the Maresme Regional Council.
The hotel sector, faced with the harsh restrictions imposed by the Generalitat and “the lack of willingness to find solutions for the sector” acknowledge that “it would be more practical for us to pay the fines”, but they demand “responsibility” from the Administration to “maintain the destinations quality tourism”.
Maresme captures 30% of the water from the Tordera desalination plant, but the region blames the Generalitat for not having made the investments promised in 2001, when they agreed with the agricultural sector that purified water would be returned in the course of the river to avoid salinization of the aquifers.
Building a purification station and pumping regenerated water towards the river course, according to sources from the Maresme County Council, has a cost of five million euros, which 23 years later has become 17 million. The regional body claims that it could be reduced to 12.5 million if the reverse osmosis process is eliminated, since the regenerated water is not for human use.
“We demand from the ACA the investment committed to save the water of the Maresme” points out the Minister of Territory and Sustainability of the Regional Council, Lluís Farrerons. In the face of non-compliance with official investments, it is not understood that there is an attempt to prevent the tourism sector from mobilizing. For two years, the hotels have been upgrading their facilities” in anticipation of situations like the current one, which is why they are demanding facilities for new investments.
The mobile desalination plants, installed in prefabricated modules, have the capacity to treat 50 cubic meters of water every hour (50,000 liters). They calculate that filling the swimming pools of hotels, campsites or tourist accommodation would only require a fifth of the plant’s output, a little less than 10 cubic meters per hour, so they suggest that the excess water could be diverted to the river course to form “an aquifer border” that avoids the salinization of the aquifer.
