More than 90% of the days of the current Catalan legislature have passed in a drought situation. This circumstance permeates political life. Salvador Illa, the socialist leader, even wanted to broaden the focus by extending the responsibilities of the current emergency to the last ten years, in which the successive presidents of the Generalitat “did not do their homework” (and it went back to Mas , Torra and Puigdemont before citing Aragonès). In his assessment, in these ten years of the process, “Catalonia is today more dependent on water, more dependent on energy and more dependent on investments” and aid from the State. It is clear that Illa knows how to bring water to his mill.
The debate served to make clear the heavy toll (“vulnerability, helplessness, bewilderment” were the terms used) that has caused in Catalonia almost a decade of investment drought in hydraulic works, a traumatic experience that is on its way to coining the “never again”: the conjuration so that, once the trance is over, forgetfulness does not flood everything again. But the political shock put on the table the philosophical question of what are the responsibilities of an administration that fails to fulfill what is planned. Who sanctions who has the capacity to fine?
ERC has been accused of pointing out the municipalities when it decreed high fines for non-compliance with the water allocations established for the various phases of the alert. And councilor David Mascort described the PSC as “intransigent” for blocking the decree with the fines. And the PSC’s defensive reaction was not long in coming, even though it was covered with calls for collaboration. “Imagine, minister, that another administration points to the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) or the Government and asks for sanctions for not having carried out the works planned years ago. Don’t want for others what you don’t want for yourself”, said socialist deputy Sílvia Paneque after recalling her proposal for a water pact. It actually sounded like a non-aggression pact. P aneque proposed to allocate the money from the fines of “wasteful” councils to create a fund so that they can improve their infrastructure against the drought. “No one will sanction them for not making enough water available to the citizen”, added deputy Salvador Vergés (de Junts), who highlighted the delays in the expansion of the Besòs water treatment plant and thoroughly documented in an attempt to discredit the option of transporting water in ships.
Other interventions suggested solutions to avoid economic losses for the affected sectors (gardeners, textiles…) and industry, which must reduce consumption by 25%. “Don’t act thinking it will rain; the ACA must put its batteries in,” advised the opposition. It remains to be seen how the Government faces the barrage of criticism and whether it accepts new forms of collaboration.
