More water for the Sau reservoir

* The authors are part of the community of La Vanguardia readers.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
26 March 2024 Tuesday 16:57
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More water for the Sau reservoir

* The authors are part of the community of La Vanguardia readers

In La Vanguardia's Readers' Photos we can see how the Ter falls after the last spring rains, as it passes through Manlleu, in the Osona region.

It is very beneficial water, well used, that goes to the needy Sau reservoir, where the trace of the drought is still very present, since it continues below 4% of its capacity, but better than a few weeks ago.

Rainfall has been extensive in much of Catalonia in recent hours and has given a respite to the extreme drought, to the point that the reserves of the swamps of the Ter Llobregat system have increased to 16.05%.

According to Meteocat, between this past Monday and Tuesday morning the precipitation has been extensive and homogeneous throughout Catalonia. Amounts of 10 to 20 milliliters have been recorded in much of Catalonia and up to 40 mm in sectors of the Pre-Pyrenees, Costa Daurada and Maresme, while snow has fallen in the Pyrenees above 1,800 meters.

The rainfall could last intermittently until Thursday and Friday, there would be a pause on Saturday and the rain would return on Sunday, according to the weather forecast.

The rains of the last few hours and previous episodes of this month of March have given a temporary respite to the extreme drought that Catalonia is suffering and, at least, have stopped the trend of falling reservoir reserves in the internal basins.

If on March 9 the internal basins of Catalonia were at 14.4% (100 hm3) and specifically the Ter Llobregat system at 14.7% (90.5 hm3), currently they are at 15.55 (108 hm3) and 16.05 (98.24 hm3), respectively.

Thus, the Ter Llobregat system, which supplies 202 municipalities in Barcelona and Girona, has recovered the 16% barrier from which it moves to the emergency phase due to drought, in which it has been since February 1, if It still needs to meet another indicator: the minimum 100 hm3 of reserves.

The Catalan reservoirs that depend on the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation and that essentially feed the provinces of Lleida and Tarragona are in a much better state: they are at 46.27%.

The drought has lowered the level of the Sau reservoir in recent months to levels never seen before. Now it looks more like a meadow landscape for cattle to graze than a reservoir, waiting for water from the latest rains.