The rains recorded these days, especially those that took place between Friday and Saturday, have provided a slight relief from the drought, although we are still far from emerging from the emergency situation. Specifically, rainfall has allowed us to gain about four cubic hectometers in the region of Barcelona and Girona served by the rivers of the Ter-Llobregat system.
Given that an average of about 0.25 hm3 is being captured from these reservoirs every day, this increase in volumes means that the water reserves will be enough to guarantee the supply for about 16 days. “In any case, in the coming days there will still be a slight increasing trend and a subsequent stabilization,” according to the forecast of the technicians of the Catalan Water Agency (ACA).
The Ter and Llobregat reservoirs currently store 96.1 hm3, so they are at 15.4% of their maximum capacity. The entry into an emergency situation occurred when the level of these reservoirs fell below 100 hm3.
The recovery has in any case been testimonial. The Sau reservoir has gone from being at 1.2% of its maximum capacity to reaching 2.7%, while the improvement has been only a few tenths of a percentage in the other reservoirs, which reach very insufficient levels: Susqueda, a 22%; La Baells, 19.6%; Sant Ponçs, 26.3%, and La Llosa del Cavall, 16.1%.
In the same way, all reserves in the internal basins have noticed a very slight increase due to the rains this weekend. The volume of water stored had bottomed out on Friday with 14.41%, but in two days it grew to 14.77%.
However, this panorama has been due to the slight rebound in the Foix reservoir. This reservoir, in Castellet and la Gornal (Alt Penedès), has reached 60% of its capacity for the first time since last June and has jumped four points during the last week.
Despite everything, these tenths of increase in reserves have been achieved thanks to rainfall that has allowed us to record the largest daily increase in reserves in nine months since June 2023. In the same way, the flow of the rivers managed by the ACA also It rose on Saturday to a level that has not been seen since last June 2023.
In the weather station of Viladrau (Osona) 80.8 liters per square meter were collected and in Muntanyola (Osona), 51.5. In these areas, it did not rain so much in a single day since the Gloria storm, recorded between the 20th and 23rd of January 2020. The precipitation exceeded 50 liters per square meter in points in the center of Catalonia, Montseny, Gironès and La Selva
This past weekend, Catalonia experienced the most important episode of rain in the last six months, according to the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya. Even so, it is not nearly enough: ten more episodes of rain like this weekend would be needed to end the drought.
This weekend has also left thick layers of snow, more than half a meter, in some parts of the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees. This area, according to the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya, has experienced the most significant snowfall of the season, especially the southern slope of the Western Pyrenees, where the snow has fallen to the bottom of the valleys.
Although reserves will increase when the snow that has accumulated in the Pyrenees melts, it will not be enough to reverse the drought, which requires more rainy episodes like this weekend.
