Teresa Ribera, Minister for Ecological Transition, offered Minister Teresa Jordà the collaboration of the Government in the face of the drought situation on Wednesday afternoon, and they have agreed to maintain contacts to assess this need. “The Government of Spain is always available to collaborate in everything that the Generalitat and the municipalities of the metropolitan area may need in this matter,” the minister told this newspaper.
How do you assess the drought situation in the Barcelona and Girona region?
We are accumulating years of drought and, unfortunately, this can happen more and more frequently, as recalled by the sixth evaluation of the UN Intergovernmental Group on Climate Change. Managing water with enormous responsibility includes seeking maximum efficiency, avoiding polluting loads, digitizing management and anticipating as much as possible with measures that avoid the harshest scenarios; It is also necessary to guarantee contributions of reused and desalinated non-conventional water, since nobody wants to relive episodes like those of 2008.
What can the central administration do to deal with the drought in the Barcelona region?
In the short term it is not easy, but we are available for what can be considered useful. In the medium term, it is convenient to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Water Department to digitize and facilitate modernization in water management and efficiency. And the dialogue with the Generalitat and the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua in this regard is key.
Given that this is a problem focused on river basins that are the responsibility of the Generalitat, what coordination mechanisms are there?
The updated planning for the new cycle of works and the investments in water infrastructures are the most important references [the hydrological plan of Catalonia until 2027]. They are the responsibility of the autonomous community, but the dialogue between the two administrations helps us to identify common lines of work and the possibilities that exist for cooperation or joint efforts.
