The Catalan Water Agency (ACA) is carrying out prospecting and evaluation work on the potential to capture flows from the Besòs River. The works include the construction of two 25 meter deep wells, one in Montcada and Reixac in the Mas Rampinyo area and the other in Sant Adrià de Besòs.
The wells will be used to quantify the flows that can be extracted in each of them and in turn will allow samples to be taken to chemically characterize the state of the water. Additionally, three surveys will also be carried out, also in Montcada, 23 meters deep with continuous core recovery to deepen the characterization of the sectors that have a potential for contributing higher flows and that will become piezometers, monitoring elements. to measure groundwater, which will become part of the ACA control network. The information will be incorporated into the project for both water treatment plants, the drafting of which is in the bidding process.
In parallel, the Catalan Water Agency has opened a new line of aid aimed at local entities to finance investments in the recovery, rehabilitation, adaptation and execution of groundwater collections. The new line of aid will be added to the seven that the ACA has opened to address the current drought, for a total amount of more than 100 million euros.
Along the same lines, the Generalitat applies other water collection measures in Besòs, such as the expansion of the Besòs Drinking Water Treatment Station (ETAP), which allows the production of 300 liters of water per second. The first phase of the works is being completed.
Last April, the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, already announced a 25 million investment to multiply by four the flow rates of the Besòs potable water station in the Trinitat Vella neighborhood, which supplies the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area.
The current drought situation causes the need to look for new resources, not only in the Besòs, but also in the Ter and the Llobregat, to which we must add the desalination plants of El Prat and Blanes. The studies are now focusing on the lower section of the Besòs River to analyze whether the groundwater has the same quality as the surface water and can be used for domestic consumption.
The first indications indicate that the subsoil reserves in Besòs are not excessively contaminated, but rather in small quantities. This water, subjected to a purification process, can be used with all health guarantees for human consumption.
As La Vanguardia already reported, 200 liters per second of water from the aquifer are made drinkable at the Besòs de Trinitat station. The planned plan plans to increase these withdrawals to 860 liters per second, between water from the underground aquifer and the surface water from the river itself.
In the rest of Catalonia, the Catalan Water Agency has put out to tender two new flow control points, on the Cardener and Brugent rivers. The two actions represent an investment of 1.4 million euros that will be financed with European Next Generation funds. A water quality measurement station will be incorporated into the Cardener, which will allow its analysis before converging with the Llobregat river. The ACA has an automatic control network with approximately 190 control points that allow the water resources of Catalonia to be controlled.
