“These days, in its normal regime, the Mequinensa reservoir is draining 400 cubic meters of water per second (m3/s) and what we are asking for the Barcelona area is 1.5 m3/s”. Carles Conill, spokesman for the Observatori de la Sequera, expresses himself with these data. This body, made up of four professional associations, has once again demanded from the Government the interconnection of the Barcelona supply network with that of the Ebro as a formula to deal with the drought emergency. Other institutions and economic sectors have been adding to this proposal while the conviction is growing that the available water resources are insufficient to provide a guaranteed response to the supply in the coming months if it does not rain.
The publication of several images of the Mequinensa reservoir, where the Ebro has caused a resurgence in order to implement its ecological flow regime and renaturalize the river, has projected the image of a river with abundant flows (it is in 82.5% of its capacity) and has strengthened the arguments of those who advocate the connection of the supply networks of the Consorci d’Aigües de Tarragona and those of the public company Aigües Ter Llobregat, the major supplier of high water in the region of Barcelona and Girona. “The Generalitat already knows our proposal, it is a technical proposal, they value it, but they believe that a social and political awareness is lacking to take it forward”, adds Conill. “The scene is a territory that is thirsty and another where there is plenty of water. This is the reality”, he summarizes.
The interconnection of networks has been promoted by four professional associations (Road Engineers, Industrialists, Agronomists and Economists), who claim to give continuity to the “mini transfer” of the Ebro (in Camp de Tarragona) to the Barcelona region by take advantage of the flows whose transfer is used in Tarragona. “We believe that the interconnection of the Ebro network with the network of the metropolitan region is the only way to provide an effective and rapid response to the drought problem,” explains Salvador Sedó, director of sustainable development at Foment del Treball . Sedó affirms that if the project is tackled through the emergency route, “the works could be carried out between 6 and 8 months, and be finished before the end of the year”. In addition, he argues that this interconnection is compatible with the other planned actions, and that this solution is better than transporting water from the Ebro in ships from Tarragona, which will require changing the mini-transfer law.
Miquel Gotanegra, president of the Girona Camping Association and the Alt Empordà Hospitality Association, describes it as “very sad” that, taking into account the precedents of other drought episodes such as that of 2008 , the interconnection has not yet been made. “Many European countries have their networks interconnected, but it seems that this does not work with us”, says Gotanegra, who sees the infrastructure as “indispensable”.
Enric Dotras, president of the hoteliers of Lloret de Mar, explains: “We should have worked on connecting not only the Ebro many years ago; already in 2008 we were aware that a new cycle of drought could repeat itself”. “It doesn’t make sense that there is a lack of water here and the Ebro is sober and nothing has been done,” adds the president of the Girona Rural Tourism Association, Ramon Corominas.
On Friday, representatives of the Costa Brava Center Group met with the Councilor for Climate Action, David Mascort, to show their concern for the impact of this episode. The manager of the group, Judit Lloberol, welcomes progress on medium-term projects such as the Tordera desalination plant, but says that they do not solve the current problem. “Once again we are late, actions must be taken when the reservoirs are full, not empty, and we have been like this for a long time”, he says. The sector is worried that the message of lack of water or possible cuts crosses borders and that it can translate into cancellations.
