The drought does not let up in Catalonia, it only has short breaks. The water reserves in the Ter and Llobregat reservoirs, which supply the Barcelona region, have returned to below 30% of their maximum capacity (they are at 29.5%) after two weeks without rain and in which the volume of stored flows has gradually decreased. The Ter reservoirs now accumulate 28% of their maximum capacity, while those of the Llobregat are around 30%.
The situation is far from normal. The reservoirs from which the Barcelona and Girona region are fed now accumulate 181 hm3 (29.5%), an amount that should double (and reach 341 hm3) to return to normality (when the reservoirs are at 60%). “We need 100 hm3 to have a certain normality,” say sources from the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua (ACA). After the rainfall in May and June, which allowed a certain gain in the resources available for supply, the level of the reservoirs dropped again in July. “We have entered into a natural dynamic, such as the fact that the reserves are gradually reduced during the summer,” say ACA sources.
At this time, 495 municipalities in the internal basins of Catalonia (rivers that rise and die in their territory) are in an exceptional situation. The restrictions affect uses in the agricultural, industrial and livestock sectors, mainly, in addition to watering gardens and green areas (both public and private) as well as street cleaning.
Reserves reached their lowest level and, therefore, their most delicate situation (25%) in the first half of May. However, the rains in May and June alleviated the situation. All of this, together with the use of alternative flows (from the Blanes and El Prat desalination plants and reclaimed water from Llobregat), has made it possible to reduce the risk of severe domestic restrictions until November. These unconventional flows have become essential in order not to depend on the dwindling resources of the rivers.
Meanwhile, the weather forecast indicates that scattered showers and storms will occur today in the Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenees. However, outside the northern third of Catalonia, no rain is expected or it will be practically negligible. Likewise, this situation is likely to be repeated from Thursday to Saturday. It is also expected that there will be muggy nights today and, above all, tomorrow. “Important episodes of rain are not expected,” stresses Santi Segalà, head of the SMC prediction area. The temperatures will tend to drop from tomorrow, although there will be a comeback again at the weekend, although there will be no warnings due to heat, according to Segalà.
Faced with the lack of water resources in areas not connected to the Ter-Llobregat system networks, the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) has agreed to co-finance the transport of water in tanker trucks and the execution of emergency works in 82 municipalities with a total amount of two million euros. Among the municipalities receiving the largest amount of aid are Molins de Rei, Botarell, Alforja (Baix Camp), Cabrera d’Anoia, Castellterçol, Granera (Moianès), Passanant and Belltall (Conca de Barberà) and Masllorenç del Penedès (Baix Penedès).
At the state level, the heat will give a few days of truce, but it will pick up in the second half of the week. The first days of this last week temperatures drop and even the environment will be cool for the time of year in the northern half, while the heat will be within normality in the rest of the country. On the other hand, “in the second half of the week temperatures will rise again and in the final stretch of July the intense heat will return, with more than 40ºC in the Guadalquivir and Guadiana valleys,” said the spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), Rubén del Campo.
He also warned that in the north and east of the peninsula there may be storms that will be “locally strong and will be accompanied by hail and intense gusts of wind,” he stressed.
