The drought tightens relentlessly in Catalonia. For this reason, the Catalan Government will study today declaring the situation of exceptionality in some areas of the territory, which would mean intensifying the restrictions for certain uses of water, even in the domestic sphere. Currently, in Catalonia there are 515 municipalities on drought alert (54.4% of the total), belonging to 27 of the 42 counties, a figure that represents a population of 6.7 million inhabitants (86% of the total).
In all these areas, water restrictions have already been adopted, even in the domestic sphere, basically centered on the prohibition of filling swimming pools and restricting to only two days a week the watering of gardens and green areas (public and private) and in the hours of less insolation. In areas that become exceptional, these restrictions will be intensified, and the risk of gardens and green areas (public and private) would be totally prohibited, all this to avoid cuts in the supply of drinking water.
In all these areas, a limitation of agricultural irrigation allocations has already been established and their replacement by flows from reclaimed water, as well as a reduction in consumption for uses in livestock, recreational or sports facilities.
The new turn of the screw occurs when the Ter and Llobregat reservoirs, which supply the Barcelona and Girona region, are at 28% of their maximum capacity. In this region, the exceptional phase would enter when the river reserves are below 25%, although various measures are still being adopted to stop their decline. In an extreme case, when the reservoirs are at 16%, an emergency would be entered, a phase in which cuts would already be made for strictly domestic water uses.
However, in areas of the territory devoid of the service of the large interconnected supply networks and that have to resort to their own small-scale catchments, such as in Vacarisses or l’Espluga de Francolí, they have already suffered household water cuts and have had to resort to tanker trucks.
The situation has worsened because the rains recorded in recent weeks have only served to slow down and very slightly break the trend of declining reserves in the reservoirs, but they have not made it possible to gain resources. “Many contributions of water have been in the form of snow; but we do not believe that they add significant water resources”, say sources from the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua. The snow that has fallen has also left a testimonial mark and has concentrated in coastal and pre-coastal areas, far from the headwaters of the rivers.
The drought has hit Catalonia since February 2021; It began on the coast and the pre-coastal of Barcelona, ??and has practically spread to the entire territory (with the exception of the southern third, central regions of Lleida and the north face of the Pyrenees). In these two years (until February 2023), the headwaters of the Ter have accumulated a rainfall deficit of 30% compared to the climatic average (it has fallen 550 mm less than normal); The same is true of the Muga, while at the headwaters of the Llobregat it has rained 24% less than average (400 mm less), according to Vicent Altava, an applied research technician at the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya.
Altava considers that the 2004-2008 drought had a greater extension and intensity and was more durable, although in the current period there have been record values ??in the northeast of Catalonia. The resources obtained from desalination and the flows regenerated in the El Prat treatment plant and pumped to be reused and treated again in Sant Joan Despí have been key to coping with the drought.
All this has to do with the high temperatures, 2022 was the hottest year in Catalonia, with 2.5ºC above the climatic average; there was an important loss of water by evaporation and a high consumption. To overcome the current drought, abundant and continuous rains would be needed, with the particularity that the torrential rains that usually occur in autumn do not occur in spring.
Meanwhile, the snow arrived on the Catalan coast at dawn and left a light white blanket in metropolitan towns, such as Gavà and Viladecans (between 2 and 3 centimeters) and in the upper neighborhoods of Barcelona, ??where it covered the Tibidabo mountain and the Collserola mountain range. (5 centimeters). Terrassa, Begues, Matadepera, Els Pallaresos and La Selva del Camp were also covered in snow. In the early hours of the morning it was snowing in areas of the Camp de Tarragona and in some points of l’Anoia such as Santa Margarida de Montbui. Civil Protection maintained the alert of the Neucat Plan.
