The infractions and their corresponding sanctions are already classified. In addition, Urban Guard agents have a protocol to report any citizen who fails to comply with the limitations on water use due to the drought. The municipal administrative machinery is ready, prepared and oiled. But so far no citizen of Barcelona has been fined. It seems people are behaving in an exemplary way. The City Council understands that at this time it is not appropriate to redouble the pressure on the citizen.
Yes, municipal technicians assure that we are not witnessing any case of administrative neglect, that for many years the people of Barcelona have assumed that while brushing their teeth the tap must remain closed, that consumption in the Catalan capital is still well below the provisions for all the uses established by the Generalitat, which at this time little more can be demanded of the people...
"Yes, given the circumstances, in this sense, it does not seem pertinent for us to adopt an active stance," say the Barcelona City Council technicians, Cristina Vila, director of Barcelona Cicle de l'Aigua, and Francesc Jiménez, manager of the Institut Municipal de Parcs. i Gardens–. In any case, we have not yet received any citizen complaints in this regard. If we received a complaint, we would investigate it and if necessary we would transfer the sanctioning file to the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), the body in charge of processing possible fines.” The same sources add: "In any case, in the next phase of the drought, in phase 2, where we will presumably enter during the spring or summer, depending on the evolution of consumption and rainfall, we could consider adopting a much more active.”
Do you remember those very harsh restrictions on mobility in force during the home confinement dictated to face the covid pandemic? Then the term balcony cop was coined, and it became clear that the average Barcelonan has no problem pointing out all the clever people who try to avoid the sacrifices made by the majority in pursuit of the common good. The City Council thinks that the absence of citizen complaints is a good indicator of compliance with the restrictions.
For its part, within the 36 municipalities of the metropolitan area, the first sanctioning file transferred by a city council is about to fall, and it is most likely that it will come from Tiana. Other municipalities are also carrying out these first procedures. The municipalities carry out the inspection; and if they detect a violation, they open a file and forward the sanction proposal to the AMB. And in a second phase, the AMB opens its file and imposes the fine where appropriate. “Most of the work falls on the town councils.” explains Martín Gullón, director of the Cicle de l’Aigua area of the AMB, referring to this procedure.
The sanctions will be graduated according to the seriousness of the fact, the damages caused, the circumstances of the person responsible or the comparative wrong committed.
Minor infractions will be punished with fines of up to 750 euros. In this way, cleaning a car on your own with drinking water and a well-soaped sponge in any corner of the city can lead to a fine of 30 euros. Today, private vehicles can only be cleaned in authorized commercial establishments that have a water recirculation system.
The other restrictions in force whose compliance also depends largely on the good will of the citizen refer to the filling of swimming pools and the irrigation of gardens. Filling a private pool of up to 72 square meters, with a volume of less than 72 cubic meters, is classified as a minor infraction, punishable by a fine of up to 200 euros. Furthermore, adds Martn Gulllón, watering a private garden of up to 250 square meters also constitutes a minor infraction, and the corresponding fine is 50 euros.
These last weekends it rained with some joy, for a while, and in some places it also snowed, and the forests were grateful, and the kids rescued those wellies from the back of the closet and jumped over the puddles again. But citizens are aware that they will not get out of this with a couple of showers. Many citizens put buckets in their showers so as not to waste water while it heats up. Some even shower less frequently. “We cannot ask the people of Barcelona for many more sacrifices,” is one of the mantras of Mayor Jaume Collboni these days.
“We are far below the allocations established by the Generalitat,” the Barcelona City Council technicians say. The drought of 2008 meant an important change in customs. We still haven't recovered the consumption levels we had then." In January, water consumption in Barcelona was 163 liters per person per day for all uses, an amount still far from the maximum amount established by the Generalitat for this first phase of the emergency, which is 200 liters. We talk about all types of consumption that occur in the city divided by the number of inhabitants. So this also includes factories, restaurants, gyms...
In the metropolitan area as a whole, considering commercial consumption, small industries, as well as municipal uses, the average consumption is 170 liters per inhabitant per day, “but the latest data, not yet completely closed, point to values close to 165 liters per inhabitant day,” says Gullón. And strictly domestic consumption? According to the AMB, domestic consumption in the Barcelona area decreased last year, when the drought hit hard: it fell from 102.79 liters per person per day to 100.29 liters per person per day, which is at the level of consumption essential minimum according to the WHO. In the specific case of the Catalan capital, consumption is somewhat higher, 103.8 liters. Nobody relaxes.
This is a uniform trend throughout the metropolitan area, with very illustrative examples. In l'Hospitalet de Llobregat they went from 93.4 liters per inhabitant of domestic consumption in 2022 to 91.3 in 2023. In Santa Coloma de Gramenet from 92.3 to 91.4. In Castelldefels from 120.1 to 113.7. In Sant Joan Despí from 100.8 to 96.4. In Begues, from 126.2 to 119.2... In this way, doing the math, in total numbers, it turns out that the domestic consumption of the entire Barcelona conurbation went from 123,971,000 cubic meters of water in 2022 to 106,509,000 cubic meters in 2023.
“With these numbers – add the City Council technicians – in Barcelona, if we entered phase 2, we would not have to apply a reduction in the pressure of domestic consumption; then the limit established by the Generalitat would be 180 liters per inhabitant per day, and it would still be well above the recorded consumption. The pressure reduction would surely take place in phase 3.” Then a limit would be established, 160, which would already be above the commonly recorded consumption. “But this pressure reduction would be gradual, designed mainly to reduce the impact of leaks in the distribution network, and in its first phases the citizen would not even notice it. Later he could see that less water comes out of the tap during the hours of greatest demand.”
The AMB has already started the process to lower the network pressure in the municipalities that use a total of more than 200 liters for all uses: Begues, Cervelló, Corbera de Llobregat, Palma de Cervelló, Sant Just Desvern, Sant Vicenç dels Horts and Tiana. "The pressure drops are going well"; it takes place without incident", emphasizes Martín Gullón, organizer of the operation.
