The delays in the pace of completion of some of the most important hydraulic works projects that must be undertaken in the Barcelona region cause concern. This concern is being expressed at a time when the imminent entry into emergency is taken for granted, given that the reservoirs that supply the region of Barcelona and Girona are touching the bar of 16% of their capacity, the red traffic light that forces the activation of the domestic restrictions.
The lack of investments during a decade (2009-2017), the descheduling of the two desalination plants planned at the time and the forgetfulness after the great drought of 2007-2008 explain, together with the lack of rainfall for 38 months, why the domestic restrictions They are just around the corner. But now it remains to be seen if the machinery of the institutions is well oiled to face the new works in the short, medium and long term. An analysis of the actions included in the law on urgent measures against drought, approved by the Parliament on May 19, 2023, shows that important obstacles have arisen.
The first breach focuses on the new Tordera desalination plant (in Blanes). The law provided for putting the works on this facility out to public tender in 2023. But they have not been awarded. Sources from the Department of Climate Action point to the central Administration as responsible for the delay in the calendar. The central Administration decided to get involved in the financing of this infrastructure and declare it of general interest, which has made it necessary to coordinate with the Generalitat to avoid friction and duplicity in the procedures.
Finally, it has been agreed that the financing (via loans) will be provided by the central Administration, that the work will be carried out by the Government and that the environmental impact declaration made by the Generalitat will be accepted as good, as explained by the ERC deputy, Eugeni. Villalbí. “We can't cause any more delays,” he admits.
The PSC deputy in Parliament Sílvia Paneque points out the Government's responsibility for the delays. She argues that the new desalination plant was planned long before the central Administration intervened, since at the end of 2022 the Government and the PSC agreed to include an item for this purpose in the 2023 budgets of the Generalitat. “If the process to promote this desalination plant had been completed within the initially planned deadlines, when the central Administration offered help, the works should have already been put out to tender,” says Paneque. This will be the largest desalination plant in Catalonia, since its current capacity of 20 hm3 will be increased with another 60 additional hm3
Meanwhile, the public company ATL has completed the public information on the basic project of the Cubelles/Foix desalination plant (second major project), although the environmental impact declaration by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition is still missing. “We will bring forward the start of this work to 2025,” Villalbí congratulates himself. The central government plans to allocate 442 million euros (via loans) for the two new desalination plants (Tordera II and Foix/Cubelles).
Another late work. The law also provided for “the completion, during the year 2023, of the project and work to expand the Besòs drinking water treatment station” (Trinitat area of Barcelona) and the new underground and surface intakes. However, the works are not going at the desired pace, without the Government clarifying the causes. “Regarding the timing, the head of the infrastructure (Agbar) must confirm how the works are progressing,” they indicated from Acció Climàtica. In April 2023, President Pere Aragonés participated in an event where he was informed of the plan to quadruple the extraction of water from the Besòs aquifer (to go from 200 to 860 l/s) with the expectation of completing this work between the end of 2023. and early 2024. A document from the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) states that the project is being analyzed “to assess the viability of the expansion, since the site does not have enough land to carry out this action.” “The location and location of the collection points is currently being studied,” it is added.
The opposition is very critical of the Government at this point, believing that the work has not received due attention when these water resources could be key to confronting the drought. Furthermore, this action would alleviate the pressure on the Ter at a time when they are going to reduce their ecological flows. "If these underground collections and water purification had been planned ahead of time, around 52,000 m3 per day would be available, a figure higher than the water that can be transported by boat to Barcelona, which is estimated at around 40,000 m3," according to the estimates by Sílvia Paneque.
Another thorny point. The Government is obliged to promote aid worth 50 million euros from its budgets so that municipalities undertake investments to improve the performance of their water networks and prevent leaks. The forecast was to resolve the call in six months; but the ACA has encountered an avalanche of requests (880 requests corresponding to 700 municipalities), which has forced the review of the requests to be extended by five months. This circumstance will be used to expand aid with an additional item of 70 million with the promise that all requests will be attended to.
Foment del Treball points out that they should have acted with a more agile procedure and proposes that a “direct subsidy be made to the water companies” (public, private or mixed), since now the town councils will have to be the ones to put out to tender the works. “And if the execution is linked to tariff clauses, this will be even slower,” says Salvador Sedó, director of sustainable development of the Catalan employers' association.
Another key hydraulic work is the unfolding of the old artery that carries water from Cardedeu to Barcelona, which suffers serious leaks in Badalona. The project has been approved, some land has been expropriated and the work is expected to be put out to tender this first quarter. “We will comply with what was agreed with the municipalities,” says the Government.
Likewise, the process is being activated to adapt and optimize the quality of the treatment in the Abrera (Llobregat) and Cardedeu (Ter) water treatment plants. In Abrera (15 million), the works are put out to tender in the first quarter of 2024, while in Cardedeu (130 million) the forecast is that the first phase will begin in 2024 and conclude in 2028.
