The Catalan Camping Federation requests that the swimming pools in its complexes be considered facilities of economic interest and that they can remain open during the tourist season. The sector demands an urgent meeting with the Minister of Climate Action, David Mascort. They ask that campsites that present a Water Saving Plan, equivalent to that used by industries, can alleviate the restrictions approved by the Government, against which they have also filed a contentious administrative appeal in the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) .
The sector maintains that the Sequera Special Plan and the awareness campaigns “have resulted in an avalanche of queries from customers.” They fear that if the situation continues and the pools cannot be used, there will be cancellations and job losses. They also regret that “the efforts that have been made in recent years to save water now do not matter and the pools cannot be filled.”
The Catalan Camping Federation, which represents 70% of the total active campsites in Catalonia, registered 20 million overnight stays last year, with an economic impact on the territory that they estimate at 2,103 million euros. The president of the entity, Miquel Gotanegra, has requested a meeting with the department to expose the situation and indignation of the sector. They work to ensure that swimming pools are considered an economical facility, “and not a luxury item.”
In the letter sent to the councilor, the sector regrets that the latest regulations published by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) establish a prohibition on filling freshwater swimming pools, “without discriminating whether they are domestic or linked to an economic activity, with the comparative grievance that it is allowed to partially fill the covered swimming pools registered in the census of sports facilities of the Generalitat or those for therapeutic use…”.
98% of federated campsites have at least one swimming pool with surfaces that are mostly less than 100 square meters and 74% use water reuse systems or their own purification plants. “The maintenance of the level of the swimming pools represents only 2% of the total water consumption of a campsite,” they allege and add that the origin of this water is from “own sources (catchments), the supply network and sources alternatives”.
The Federation’s proposal is that facilities that present a Water Saving Plan can request a reduction in restrictions to be able to continue collecting water to keep the pools open.
