Firm and unanimous opposition of the parties represented in Tortosa Town Council (Baix Ebre) to the controversial interconnection of the Ter-Llobregat system with the network that transports water from the Ebre mini-transfer to Tarragona. Against the measure proposed by the Catalan professional associations of engineers and economists to deal with the historic drought, the municipal government of Tortosa (Movem-PSC and ERC), the CUP and Junts, at the head of the opposition.
All parties voted yesterday in favor of an institutional declaration proposed by the Plataforma en Defensa de l’Ebre (PDE), the social movement that has led for 25 years the fight against any form of diversion of the Ebre . First, against the Aznar PP National Hydrologic Plan (2001), and in 2008, against the same network interconnection promoted by the tripartite government (PSC, ERC and Initiative) in the previous drought. With the rain, this plan was parked.
It is the first institutional demonstration against the pipe connection of the Barcelona area with the network of the Consorci d’Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), which has been distributing the water from the mini transfer of the Ebro from the Terres since the 1980s from the Ebro to the Camp de Tarragona and the Baix Penedès. The current Government of the Generalitat has ruled it out.
“It is not the solution to Catalonia’s water problems. It is very important that Tortosa leads the rejection of any form of water transfer in Barcelona”, emphasized the mayor, Jordi Jordan (Movem-PSC). One of the arguments put forward is the low flow of the Ebro when it reaches the final section, at the height of the Terres de l’Ebre, to the mouth of the Mediterranean, key to the survival of the Ebro delta. “The Terres de l’Ebre also need water, it is necessary to preserve the ecological flow of the Ebro with water and sediments to preserve the Ebro delta”, said Mar Lleixà (ERC), first deputy mayor.
The statement of the platform approved in plenary affirms that the interconnection of networks “aims to ensure the availability of cheap water for the development of the metropolitan master plan (PDUM) where 217,000 new homes are planned”. In addition, the anti-trafficking movement assures that it is a “structural measure not linked to the current emergency” because “the execution time is very long”. The platform recalls that it would be necessary to amend the mini-transfer law that was approved in 1981 and that fixed the province of Tarragona as the territorial limit. Regarding the sending of ships with water from the Ebro from the port of Tarragona to Barcelona, ??a measure that the Generalitat has announced from June if the drought persists, neither the institutional statement nor the spokespersons of the parties they opposed it so clearly, even though they were critical. “Questioning the measure because of the impact and because it is not very efficient in solving the problem of lack of water”.
