Four professional associations (Road Engineers, Agricultural Engineers, Industrial Engineers and Economists) have launched the proposal to interconnect Catalonia’s regional water networks to face the drought crisis. A manifesto proposes linking the supply network of the Ter-Llobregat system (ATL) with that of the Tarragona Water Consortium, which manages the flows of the Ebro.
The Intercollegiate Water Observatory proposes to configure Catalonia’s water corridor to have a “resilient and flexible” network, capable of offering additional resources in current or future periods of drought. The plan aims to give continuity to the mini transfer of the Ebro in Tarragona to the Barcelona region, taking advantage of the fact that not all the water concession granted at the time by law is being used. According to Idescat data, 2.4 m3/s of the 4 m3/s totaling the concession are used: 76 hm3 of the 126 hm3 available.
Its promoters conclude that the existing infrastructures in the internal basins of Catalonia “are not sufficient to guarantee the supply”, therefore, consequently, “agreements must be forged” to provide “resilience and flexibility” to the water cycle systems .
The idea is that this connection is only operative “in exceptional cases of drought”, like the current one, or in extreme circumstances, such as pollution episodes, attacks, pipeline repair works or the like. The connection would be reversible; there would be the possibility of supplementing that of the Ebro in Tarragona with water from Ter and Llobregat, although naturally this is a less likely option. “It is not about altering the current concession; we will not move more water than the one granted”, explains the engineer Albert Vilalta, coordinator of the work.
The professional associations emphasize that they already have the constructive technical projects for this interconnection (from 2002 and 2008), which would make it possible to speed up the bidding process for the work. The route would run on a 65 km route from Constantí to Vendrell and Olèrdola, where it connects with the ATL system. Half of the route is already available. The cost is estimated at around 300 million euros. “It would be a way to gain time while waiting to have the two new desalination plants”, which have a realization horizon for 2027/2028, as Vilalta explained.
The works would last about 18 months, so that the new infrastructure would be in a position to be available by 2025. Its completion would require the approval of the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation, prior to application from the Tarragona Water Consortium. It would, however, require a modification of the 1981 mini-transfer state law, in which a geographical limit was established to bring water from the Ebro circumscribed to the province of Tarragona, while in the proposed case would go into that of Barcelona.
“We are in a worse situation than in 2008; and we want it to act decisively, we have to adapt to climate change”, declared Carles Conill, president of the Water, Energy and Environment committee of the College of Civil Engineers.
The professional associations judge that the regeneration of the waters must be promoted in order to be reused and to obtain new resources from desalination. At the same time, they believe that the effectiveness of water management must be improved to reduce leaks and losses in pipes, especially in agricultural uses.
It is not the first time that it is considered to connect the network of Ter-Llobregat with that of the Ebre. This idea began to develop at the beginning of 2008, during the previous great drought. The solution was put on the table after the tripartite Government failed in the attempt to carry out a transfer (“temporary and reversible catchment”) of water from the headwaters of the Segre, rejected by the Spanish Government in large part by the fear of criticism from Valencia and Murcia, theoretical recipients of the Ebro resources promised by the PP, in a complex electoral context. Finally, the Central Government agreed to extend the mini transfer and transfer water to Barcelona with a route along the AP-7 for emergency periods and with a reversible connection. The project was awarded for 164 million euros to a joint venture led by Agbar. However, the copious rains of May 2008 left him in the trunk of memories. Now, professional colleges are rescuing him.
