The Catalan institutions responsible for water management continue with preparations for the possible need to resort to the use of ships to transport water to Barcelona if the drought continues unabated. It is not exactly the most desired solution nor a short-term option, but the situation is so serious that it has become necessary to plan for this eventuality in order to gather new sources of supply.
But what can be the contribution of ship transport to the guarantee of supply? Would it be relevant help? Sources familiar with this logistics point out that the ships that can transport water to Barcelona (each one of them) have an average storage capacity of about 40,000 cubic meters of water (40 million liters), which is equivalent to the consumption of about 190,000 people. , a figure that comes from taking as a reference the provision of water for all uses reserved in the current pre-emergency phase by the Generalitat (210 liters per person and day for all uses: not only strictly domestic ones). In the metropolitan area of Barcelona, an average of 500,000 cubic meters of water is consumed per day (500 million liters of water), which means that each ship could contribute the consumption of approximately 8% of that demand (12 ships a day would be needed to cover it almost completely). These are not extraordinary percentages by any means, but they can constitute a contribution that relieves pressure on other resources and allows reserves to be saved.
“That we have to talk about all this shows that we are very, very bad, that the situation is desperate,” says Joan Compte, who was director of the public company Aigües Ter-Llobregat when a water transport had to be organized in 2008. on boats to Barcelona also because of another drought. The Generalitat – then governed by the tripartite party – prepared this entire device in collaboration with Agbar, when the Ter and Llobregat reservoirs were below 20% capacity. At that time there were no desalination plants nor was the El Prat de Llobregat wastewater regeneration plant in operation (which serves to indirectly reuse the treated flows by pouring them upstream to be made drinkable in Sant Joan Despí), and which have cushioned the effects of the drought.
On that occasion, water transport was organized with six ships, with the expectation of making 63 monthly trips (in ships with a capacity of between 19 and 42 million liters each) to bring water from Tarragona to Barcelona (wells and flow). of the Ebro mini-transfer in Tarragona) and Marseille (Rhône basin). The plan anticipated that all this load would supply a total volume of 1.66 hm3 per month, which would cover around 6% of the consumption of the 5.5 million inhabitants served by the Ter and Llobregat.
The first ship (the Sichen Defender) brought water from Tarragona, where the loading tasks lasted nine hours, and docked in the port of Barcelona on May 13, 2008. Various testimonies now collected by this newspaper confirm that this first freight was of no use. , although the water from the Canal du Bas-Rhône Languedoc or Canal Philippe-Lamour could be landed without problems and connected to the network.
“I remember that a first ship brought water that was not in proper condition,” recalls Compte. Then, the arrival of copious rains in May “erased” all the plans and caused the entire device to be discarded, as was the controversial plan already approved to extend the so-called mini-transfer from the Ebro to Camp de Tarragona until connecting with the Ter- Llobregat in the Barcelona region. “We were waiting for the water that also had to come from the Carboneras desalination plant,” says another manager who participated in that operation, which illustrates its complexity.
The previous work is also laborious so that the boats can be loaded with water when the time comes, in June, if the drought persists, according to the Government's forecast.
One of the essential actors is the port of Tarragona. When January ends, the inspection tests of the pipeline that must carry the water from the Ebro mini-transfer to the Rioja dock will be completed, where the ships are scheduled to be loaded and set sail for Barcelona, port sources confirm.
The results of the tightness and pressure tests of the water pipe, within the public port domain, are expected to be favorable, so the Port Authority of Tarragona will have the installation prepared and tested this January, the same sources explain.
The pipe is almost a kilometer long and has a diameter of half a meter. It runs underground until it connects with the network under the jurisdiction of the Tarragona City Council, where the water from the Ebro mini-transfer arrives. The last time this installation was commissioned was in the drought of 2008. The review is mandatory in case it is necessary to carry out works. repair.
Other actors have duties too. Ematsa, the municipal water company of Tarragona, is already working to have the branch of its distribution network ready, essential to bring the water from the mini-transfer to the port, as confirmed by sources from the public entity.
The Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), the body that manages the distribution of mini-transfer water for the entire province, ruled out making an alternative pipeline to get the water to the port. The Ematsa branch to the port has a capacity of 650,000 cubic meters of water per month (each ship can carry 40,000 m³).
The Generalitat would be in charge of finding the consignee, requesting the stopover and the vessel. The port of Tarragona must adapt the operations of the Rioja dock to accommodate the scale and needs of the water vessels. It is a dock where fruit container ships operate on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, the latest rainfall has had no effect on the reserves in the Barcelona region, which have not stopped their decline nor have they brought snow with the promise of generous thaws.
The reservoirs continue to decline. The snow that has fallen these days – which could feed the Ter and the Llobregat – has been so scarce that the little that has been seen will evaporate or infiltrate.
“Weather predictions have failed, even 24 hours ahead; The expectations have been deflating, there was not the desired fulfillment”, lament the technicians of the Generalitat.
The level of the Ter and Llobregat reservoirs is at 16.8% (103 hm), and the emergency is declared when they are at 16% (100 hm). If it does not rain, in just over two weeks the emergency threshold could be crossed, which allows domestic restrictions to be authorized.
