Only three municipalities in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) exceed the recommended water consumption rates in an exceptional situation due to drought like the current one. "In general terms, consumption is adjusting," defended yesterday the vice president of the Ecology area of the AMB, Eloi Badia. According to data from the metropolitan entity, the towns that exceed the fixed limit of 230 liters per inhabitant per day are Cervelló, Corbera de Llobregat and La Palma de Cervelló. Are your neighbors less responsible? Badia was blunt and his answer was no. "This situation is not due to the consumption of your neighbors, it is due to problems in the network," he said, referring to situations such as leaks.
The three towns in Baix Llobregat share some characteristics. For example, its hydraulic performance is low. The AMB documentation reports that Cervelló reaches 41.9% in this factor. This means that more than half of the water that reaches this town of 9,307 inhabitants is lost for different reasons. Corbera reaches 51% and La Palma de Cervelló 53%. To make a comparison, the hydraulic performance of Barcelona city reaches approximately 85%.
But of course, the previous comparison is not fair. It is not as difficult to carry water to the flats of a compact city like Barcelona or l'Hospitalet as it is to the houses of these towns. We are talking about towns located in mountainous areas, with a complex orography for the provision of basic services. There are single-family houses, urbanizations... the network is much more complex and therefore it is easier for it to have errors.
In Cervelló, the total length of the water supply networks is 113.47 kilometers. This represents a ratio of 12.19 meters per inhabitant. The metropolitan average is much lower, at 1.9 meters per inhabitant. In Corbera de Llobregat they reach 12.8 meters per inhabitant and in La Palma de Cervelló 4.6.
Although they are not to blame, Eloi Badia explained that 22,000 letters have been sent to users in towns that exceed the limits established in the current phase of drought. And although he reported that the evolution of the three populations has been positive in recent months, medium-term solutions can only come from the long-awaited investments to renew the system.
In Cervelló almost 90% of the network is over thirty years old and 30% may exceed half a century of life. In La Palma the situation is similar: the AMB estimates that half of the networks are over thirty years old and 26% over 50. And in Corbera more than 50% are over 50 years old.
Badia recalled that they are waiting for the call for subsidies from the Generalitat de Catalunya of 70 million euros to renovate these infrastructures. He also considered "logical" that the AMB joins the financial aid to the municipalities, although that decision corresponds to the next metropolitan government.
On average, domestic consumption in the metropolitan area is 165 liters per person per day, far from the 230 that marks the exceptional situation. But every drop counts and according to AMB calculations there are more than 25,000 households that spend more than they should. On the next receipt, they will receive a letter to alert them of the problem.
In the water consumption of a municipality there are many more factors than domestic consumption, such as economic activities, for example. But focusing on the use of the most precious liquid made by the neighbors, only 1.76% of households exceeded 200 liters per person per day during the past year. The town with the highest percentage of residents who use a lot of water is Sant Cugat del Vallès, with 4.78%. They are followed by Sant Just Desvern (4.59%) and Begues (4.03%). At the opposite extreme, the most responsible domestic users are found in El Papiol (0.11%), Santa Coloma de Cervelló (0.13%) and Bellaterra (0.24%).
Not only citizens, farmers and companies use water. Tourists also require it. After studying consumption in 60 hotels in Barcelona, Badia said that "a tourist consumes twice as much as a neighbor".
