The Catalan Water Agency (ACA) is carrying out prospecting and assessment work on the potential to capture flows from the Besòs river. The works include the construction of two 25-metre-deep wells, one in Montcada i Reixac, in the Mas Rampinyo area, and another in Sant Adrià de Besòs.
The wells will be used to quantify the flows that can be extracted from each one and in turn will allow samples to be taken to chemically characterize the state of the water. Additionally, three soundings will be carried out, also in Montcada, 23 meters deep, with continuous witness recovery to deepen the characterization of the sectors that have a higher flow contribution potential and that will become piezometers, elements of monitoring to measure underground water, which will become part of the ACA control network. The information will be incorporated into the project of the two potabilizers, the drafting of which is in the tendering process.
At the same time, the Catalan Water Agency has opened a new line of aid aimed at local bodies to finance investments in the recovery, rehabilitation, adaptation and execution of underground water catchments. The new aid line will be added to the seven that the ACA has opened to deal with the current drought, for a total amount of more than 100 million euros.
Along the same lines, the Generalitat applies other water collection measures in the Besòs, such as the expansion of the Besòs Potable Water Treatment Plant (ETAP), which allows the production of 300 liters of water per second. The first phase of the works is being completed.
In April, the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, already announced a 25 million investment to multiply by four the flows of the Besòs potable water station in the neighborhood of Trinitat Vella, which supplies the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area.
The current drought situation makes it necessary to look for new resources, not only in Besòs, but also in Ter and Llobregat, to which we must add the desalination plants in Prat and Blanes. The studies now focus on the lower section of the Besòs river to analyze whether the underground water has the same quality as the surface water and can be used for domestic consumption.
The first indications indicate that the underground reserves in Besòs are not excessively contaminated, but are in small quantities. This water, subjected to a potabilization process, can be used with all the health guarantees for human consumption.
As La Vanguardia already reported, 200 liters per second of water from the aquifer are made potable at the Besòs de Trinitat station. The plan envisages increasing these intakes to 860 liters per second, between water from the underground aquifer and surface water from the same river.
In the rest of Catalonia, the Catalan Water Agency has tendered two new flow control points, on the Cardener and Brugent rivers. The two actions involve an investment of 1.4 million euros, which will be financed with European Next Generation funds. In the Cardener, a water quality measurement station will be incorporated, which will allow it to be analyzed before it joins the Llobregat river. The ACA has an automatic control network with approximately 190 control points, which make it possible to monitor Catalonia’s water resources.
