75% of the water consumption in the city of Girona during the year 2021 was for domestic uses, according to data from the Municipal Territorial Analysis Unit (Umat) of the Girona City Council.
In total, 4,292,146 cubic meters, or 0.42 cubic hectometres, were consumed for activities such as cooking, showering, operating electrical appliances such as the dishwasher or washing machine, or simply for drinking.
To put these figures into perspective, it is enough to look at some data provided by the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua (ACA) on its website. Every day, the 7.5 million people who live in Catalonia consume one cubic hectometre. The reservoirs of the Catalan internal basins, which today are at 27% of their capacity, can store a maximum of 700 cubic hectometres.
For a few weeks now, about 0.5 cubic hectometres of water have been released from the Sau reservoir every day and diverted to Susqueda. Therefore, the figure for water consumption for the entire city of Girona, in which some 100,000 inhabitants live, would be slightly lower than the water released daily from Sau.
Outside the domestic sphere, the second largest consumer of water in the city of Girona is economic activities and, among these, industries play a prominent role. The industries spent 276,847 cubic meters of water; municipal facilities, 111,683 m3; fountains and irrigation of green spaces and gardens 160,027 m3 and water connections against fires, 2,085 m3.
By neighbourhood, the areas with the highest consumption per inhabitant are Mas Xirgu, where there is an industrial estate, which spends 165.21 m3 per inhabitant. In second and third place are the residential neighborhoods of Montjuïc and Palau, both with high purchasing power and probably where there are more swimming pools. In Monjuïc consumption is 59.97 m3 per inhabitant, a similar figure to Palau, with 57.29 m3.
At the other extreme are the neighborhoods where income is the lowest in the city, such as Font de la Pólvora, La Creueta and Les Pedreres, with consumption ranging between 13 and 26 m3.
As for economic and industrial activities, the largest consumptions were found in Sant Ponç, El Pla de Campdorà and Palau. Where the least water was consumed for those uses was Torre Gironella, Les Pedreres and Font de la Pólvora.
For the preparation of the study, whose objective was to quantify the consumption of drinking water from the network in the city of Girona, the analysts have taken into account the census of customers subscribed to the company Aigües de Girona, Salt i Sarrià de Ter; the census of buildings and premises, the municipal register of inhabitants and the census of activities of the Girona City Council.
