The political parties of the parliamentary arc meet this Friday to decide what new solutions must be provided to deal with the drought in the river basins of Catalonia. Below are some of the keys to this debate.
Rainfall in the basins of Catalonia (rivers that rise and die in Catalonia) have experienced a reduction in recent years, accentuated from 2021, worsened in 2022 and continued in the first quarter of 2023. Every month from 2021-2022 have been dry The rainfall average of those two years has been less than 350mm/year, “which had not occurred in any year in the records since 1915,” says the recently approved drought decree. The average is around 600 mm/year. The temperature in 2022 was 2.5 ºC above the climatic average, which has increased the demands for water. In the warm months, consumption in the Barcelona region rose by 10%.
More than 30 months with hardly any rainfall have reduced the volume of water in the Ter and Llobregat reservoirs to a quarter of their capacity (27%). It would enter the emergency phase when the reservoirs are at 17%.
The rains of recent weeks have not allowed the level of the reservoirs to recover and have only served to stop these reserves from their agonizing decline. In order to fully leave behind the situation of drought and recover the situation of “normality, “it would be necessary for about 500 liters per square meter to fall”, that is, all that rains in a year in the metropolitan region of Barcelona”, say sources from the Catalan Water Agency
The Generalitat has been applying progressive measures to reduce consumption since it approved the framework decree on drought in January 2020, a roadmap that sets out what actions must be taken when the level of the reservoirs drops below a certain level.
The limitations on the use of water now affect 224 municipalities in 15 counties and 6 million people. The Generalitat has been reducing the amount of water available (according to the established alert, exceptional and emergency scenarios).
These limitations have focused on the current phase of exceptionality in the agricultural, livestock and industrial sectors (with cuts of 40%, 30% and 15% respectively); and, in addition, the use of drinking water for irrigation of parks and public and private green areas, among others, has been prohibited.
But if the emergency phase is reached (with reservoirs below 17%), the limitations for these uses will rise by 80%, 50% and 25% respectively. And irrigation would be prohibited on golf courses with some exceptions (saving and reusing water). And, furthermore, there would be a new turn of the screw: the current supply, of 230 l per person per day for all uses, will have to be further cut to the municipalities.
At the current rate, if between April and May it does not rain at all, or if it rains very little, an emergency could begin towards the end of August or the beginning of September. After the alert and exceptional phases (in which most of Catalonia is now), it would be the moment in which restrictions on essential services could be approved.
The Generalitat established for the alert phase an endowment for municipalities of 250 liters per person per day (for all uses) while in the current exceptional phase it is 230 liters per person per day. And if the emergency phase is reached it will be 200 liters.
After the great drought of 2007-2008, each citizen of the Barcelona area consumes an average of 105 liters per person per day at home (approaching the minimum of 100 liters per person per day recommended by the WHO). They are domestic consumption in the strict sense.
To carry out the control and regulation of water supplies if the emergency phase is reached, one of the options that can be acted on is a reduction in water pressure and possible time cuts. A reduction in water pressure could have a greater effect on higher floors, while lower floors would barely notice it, they say.
The Generalitat is requiring the town councils to prepare actions for the emergency phase where they determine the savings measures and plan a cut in funding for the most extreme scenarios. The 64 municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants had until June 2020 to present their plans against the drought. However, they only have it less than half (27); nine of them have not yet presented it (Calafell, Cerdanyola, Cornellà , Esparraguera, Figueres, Molins de Rei, Ripollet, Valls and Viladecans), 11 have obtained an unfavorable assessment from the Catalan Water Agency (Cambrils, Castellar, Manlleu , Ripollet, Olesa, RubÃ, Salou, Salt, Sant Joan DespÃ, Tarragona and Vila-seca ACA) and 17 have it in process.
Several municipalities have already been warned of the risk of a fine by the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua for exceeding the amounts of water established for all uses or for not having a plan to combat drought. The approved drought decree validated by Parliament provides for fines for municipalities of up to 10,000 and up to 150,000 euros for these breaches.
The PSC calls for a one-year moratorium on these sanctions. He argues that these excessive consumptions attributed to the municipalities are sometimes due to broken networks and that this can mean repairs that can last for a while.
The Generalitat and the municipalities guarantee the supply of water mainly through the reservoirs of Ter (Sau, Susqueda) and Llobregat (La Baells, La Llosa del Cavall), the two desalination plants (El Prat and Blanes) and reused water regenerated in the installations of the treatment plant of El Prat de Llobregat.
The Agència Catalana de l’Aigua has not considered including emergency works in the drought decree. His argument has been that any work or investment in infrastructure requires that it be included in the approved hydrological planning, and that its financing be assigned and guaranteed. In the short term, it is planned to reactivate a water treatment plant in La Llagosta and open wells. The possible pact of the parties could advance the priorities established in hydrological planning, which would mean retouching the items in the budgets approved with socialist support. Totally and absolutely rule out bringing supply ships, as they were contracted in 2008
In the short term, it is not possible to expand the production of desalinated water, although progress is being made to build a new desalination plant in Tordera (which is, in fact, the second expansion of the one in Blanes). The intention is to award the project and the works shortly, so that the work to have the new desalination plant could begin in 2024. In addition, a fourth desalination plant is planned in Foix (perhaps Cubelles), but on a horizon farthest.
The idea of ​​connecting the supply networks of the Barcelona region with the supply networks of the Ebro as an alternative to face the scarcity of resources has been launched from the Col·legi d’Enginyers de Camins. The engineers propose it as a work for the future, not in the short term, and they do not detail whether the interconnection should be made with the CAT network of Tarragona (which carries water from the Ebro to Camp de Tarragona and up to Cunit) or through the area served for the Segre Government sources reject this option. “An interconnection with the Segarra Garrigues network was proposed, but the reality is that now there is no water in the Segre,” ACA sources settle. During the drought of 2008, the central Administration came to draw up and award the execution, by way of urgency, of a construction project for the interconnection of the Ebro water (CAT) in Tarragona with the water network of the Barcelona region (ATLL). The project was interrupted; the “miraculous” rains arrived (May 2008) and the matter was forgotten.
The idea of ​​massively regenerating the waters of the lower section of the Besòs has become an element of consensus among the institutions. However, it could not serve to face the current drought. Experts see it as feasible to reuse the water from the Besòs (Sant Adrià ) treatment plant, reusing it for domestic purposes once it has been regenerated, among other possibilities. In this way, the flow that is now discharged into the sea with a submarine outfall would not be lost. The quality finally obtained would be even higher than that of conventional drinking water. Once purified, it could be used to be injected into the Besòs aquifer (and gain reserves), or be transported to the Cardedeu water treatment plant (for distribution to the network) or even taken directly to the same Trinitat reservoir, at the entrance in Barcelona. Obtaining regenerated water continuously is the desired option. If more regeneration water is achieved, more desalination and more purification, an additional 180 hm3 would be available. It would be the way not to depend on the unpredictable rain to guarantee the supply. The various institutions have planned this new infrastructure.
The situation has been getting worse in the reservoirs; especially in the Sau reservoir, where there is a risk of stratification of the water sheet and that it becomes muddy, which can lead to a decrease in quality and compromise its use for supplies. The water from Sau is being transferred to the Susqueda reservoir, to preserve as much as possible the resource that still exists in Sau. Since this operation began, more than 10 hm3 of the 25 remaining in Sau have been transferred. “We carry out controls every 48 hours to monitor quality. And if in the next few days it gets worse, then we will close the floodgates in Sau, â€he adds in the ACA.
