The Government of the Generalitat is beginning to prepare the ground in case the severe drought situation that Catalonia is suffering from requires exceptional measures to be taken at a high social cost. This is the case of the possible transfer of water to Barcelona and its metropolitan area from Tarragona, an option that has already caused concern and the preventive protest of the Plataforma en Defensa de l’Ebre. In an interview given to the Efe agency, the Climate Action councilor, David Mascort, referred to this issue and called for “territorial solidarity”.
In the interview, Mascort confirmed that the transfer of water in tankers to the port of Barcelona is a measure that is on the table to be applied when Catalonia enters an emergency phase, a situation that will take place when the swamps in the internal basins are below 16% of their capacity. Currently, the Ter Llobregat system, which supplies 202 municipalities in Barcelona and part of Tarragona, with a population of around six million inhabitants, is in a pre-emergency phase, with reserves at 18%. “The recent rains have helped the swamps to stop going down for the first time in two months, but right now I am unable to say when we will reach 16%”, something that will also depend on whether it rains and consumption”, said the councilor
The head of the Government’s climate action policies has reiterated that the option of boats with water would be activated with the aim of minimizing the impact of the restrictions during the emergency phase, but not in the first steps. In any case, Mascort does not anticipate that this extraordinary measure will still apply in the first quarter of 2024, although the operation that would allow these ships to dock at the port of Barcelona with water loaded in Tarragona, Murcia or Mallorca is already being prepared
The councilor has gone ahead with the rejection that this measure may cause in Terres de l’Ebre. “A temporary solution of one, two or three boats to bring water to residents of Barcelona who don’t have any; is this really a drama? If we were to lay pipes for a transfer I would understand the concern, but should bringing boats with water to people who don’t have it a national problem? There should be a component of territorial solidarity with the people who will have a hard time because they don’t have water”, claimed Mascort. In this regard, the minister stressed that the water situation in Tarragona is not the same as that of Barcelona, ??since “they do not consume all the water they have” and “they have enough water to cover their needs”.
Mascort has insisted on the provision expressed by the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, that the State can help Catalonia alleviate the effects of the drought.
On the other hand, Councilor Mascort has pointed out that in the emergency phase it is planned to lower the water pressure, which would allow water consumption to be reduced by between 8% and 10%, although this one “very surgical” measure, since it can be applied in small towns with low buildings and short pipe routes, but it will be much more difficult in areas of the metropolitan area with much higher constructions.