Designated as one of the municipalities that exceed the water consumption limits decreed for the drought that Catalonia is suffering, Cervelló faces a complex crossroads to improve its management of the most precious and increasingly scarce liquid. The town, with 9,764 inhabitants and whose City Council has an annual budget of 11.5 million euros, needs more than 31 million to fully cover it. They have a plan, but not the financial resources necessary to carry it out. That is why they demand help from other administrations.
“We have felt singled out. It seems that the inhabitants of Cervelló rationalize water poorly and that is not the case, people do it well. We don't have so many large consumers,” clarifies the mayor, José Ignacio Aparicio. “We have swimming pools, yes, but that's not the reason for the expense,” he adds.
The original sin of Cervelló is the uncontrolled urban expansion carried out during the Franco era, when several urbanizations were carried out with little control in mountainous areas. “Some would not meet the legal requirements to be built now,” says the mayor. Materials were used that have degraded over the decades, generating leaks in the network.
“We have a defective network,” Aparicio assumes. In the middle of a natural area, Cervelló does not have 10,000 inhabitants but it has 101 kilometers of streets and 155 kilometers of pipes in an area of 24.14 km2, of which 16 m2 are currently classified as undevelopable.
To make a comparison with a more compact and less spread out city in the same region: in El Prat de Llobregat, with one of the most efficient water networks in Catalonia, there are 65,409 inhabitants who have 189 kilometers of pipes to supply their 22, 48 km2 in area without including the airport, which has its own water system.
In other words, being in the middle of the mountain requires many more pipes than in a normal city. Therefore, there is more danger of leaks. And even more so if the facilities are old, as is the case. “The orography complicates everything more,” summarizes the mayor. There are slopes and the water must be pushed.
This situation is not new. It has been known in Cervelló for decades, although it is now with the serious drought that it has become more evident and has come to the fore. Why have no measures been taken to resolve the situation? “It's not that we haven't done anything, we have done what we could,” José Ignacio Aparicio justifies.
In 2018, the City Council had prepared a master plan. The idea was to involve the new water management concessionaire company in the necessary investments. That is, awarding the exploitation of this basic asset to a firm for decades in exchange for assuming a good part of the works. But the judicial conflict over water broke out, with the result that the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) is the administration with full powers over this asset.
However, Aparicio assures that time has been lost. “For four years we have been going around,” he says. Currently, the City Council is “preparing the specifications” of the new 47-year-old tender, which it hopes to be able to publish in accordance with the AMB.
The City Council's documentation establishes investments with high, medium and low priority. Totals 31 million euros without VAT. “It will take years, although many less than those of the concession. The most important thing is to avoid leaks,” says the mayor. Some actions have already been undertaken in this regard. Among the works that the City Council has in its portfolio range from the replacement and installation of pipes and pumps to tank expansions and systems that monitor management.
“Water is a country problem, we must all pay for the investments,” considers José Ignacio Aparicio, seeking the involvement of other administrations.
