Girona City Council will not allow showering after training in municipal facilities starting next Monday. The measure will affect grassroots and elite sports. In fact, the Uni Girona players have been showering at home for a few days after training at the Fontajau municipal pavilion.
A measure that, according to Laia Palau, sports director of Uni Girona, is “an exercise of responsibility” that the players have taken conscientiously. “We must be aware of what is happening, these are measures that should help us reflect,” she said.
The measure will also apply to Bàsquet Girona and Club Hoquei Girona players, who train in municipal facilities. The former also do it in Fontajau, and the latter in one of the Palau pavilions.
It will have less impact on the footballers of Girona FC, leader of the First Division, because the training sessions are not held at the Montilivi municipal field but at the private facilities of La Vinya, at Camiral Golf.
Even so, if one day they decide to train at Montilivi, they must also comply with the restrictions imposed by the Girona City Council, as its president, Delfí Geli, has recognized.
The manager explained that since Christmas, the club has already adopted anti-drought measures that affect grassroots football. Athletes no longer shower after training or after games. And in the municipal field of Torres de Palau the grass is not watered during training either.
The City Council will also close the showers in the changing rooms of municipal swimming pools starting Monday. Only the showers located next to the pool will remain active, which allow chlorine to be eliminated after bathing without using soap.
The only exception will be the showers at the Devesa pool, which in winter, in application of Pla Fred, can be used by people who do not have a roof over their heads and who sleep on the street.
To reduce water consumption, in municipal facilities some types of flanges have been placed on taps and showers so that the water drip time is a maximum of 10 seconds and not 30 as until now. An action in force since last December.
On the other hand, the irrigation time of the artificial grass on the city’s six municipal soccer fields will be reduced. In parallel, the City Council is also working on the electrification of two wells.
The mayor of Girona, Lluc Salellas, explained this morning that the purpose of these measures is none other than “to reduce water consumption”, “to be able to extend its daily use to the maximum” and at the same time “to do pedagogy “.
The mayor recognizes that these actions can only be applied in the facilities managed by the City Council, but he trusts that private sports clubs will also join the anti-drought measures.
On the other hand, the Councilor for the Environment, Sergi Cot, trusts that the municipalities in the urban area such as Salt and Sarrià de Ter will also apply these measures. “If there is no joint work, the measures will be less effective,” he acknowledges.
