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Until 2027, the Generalitat will invest 2,400 million euros to guarantee supply, improve the environment and confront drought and the climate emergency. To date, it has invested 290 million euros to encourage municipalities and farmers to be more efficient in water management, and 160 million euros to support the countryside. It also plans to expand and build new desalination plants and 174 new treatment plants, as well as doubling the number of water regeneration stations.
In the field of desalination plants, it is planned to double production capacity and go from the current 80 hm³ to 160 in the coming years. This will be possible thanks to the expansion of the Tordera desalination plant, which will go from 20 to 80 hm³ of production capacity, and the construction of a plant at the mouth of the Foix River, with a capacity to produce 20 hm³.
Work is currently underway on the modernization of the ETAP del Ter, which is the largest drinking water treatment plant in Catalonia, and on the construction of two water treatment plants in the final section of the Besòs. Specifically, in the area of the river as it passes through Montcada and Reixac (Mas Rampinyo) and between Barcelona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Adrià de Besòs (Bon Pastor). The forecast, in the case of ETAP del Ter, is that the works will begin next autumn.
The current drought context is the worst in the last hundred years, that is, since records have been kept (in 1905). According to the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya, it is the harshest drought ever experienced in the country and shows no signs of regression in the short term. In fact, it has been raining below average for three years. Currently the drought affects more than half of the territory and no rain events are expected for the next few weeks. At this time, water reserves are at 17% of their capacity.
Two years ago, the Government launched the Sequera Special Plan, which has made it possible to delay the entry into the emergency situation due to lack of water throughout the territory by one year. Thanks to the plan, it has been possible to generate the water used by all of Catalonia in eight months. At the same time, the National Water Taula has been promoted, which will serve, in the future, for adaptation to more frequent droughts.
Furthermore, thanks to the reuse plan for regenerated water, which involves an investment of 126 million euros over four years, Catalonia will reuse the same volume of water that Barcelona needs to supply itself for a year, according to David Mascort, councilor of Acció Climàtica. All actions against drought seek, in the words of the councilor, "to provide the system with structural resistance."
The municipalities of the Ter-Llobregat system, which make up the most populated area in Catalonia, are in a pre-emergency phase due to the drought situation. This means that each inhabitant has limited water consumption to 210 liters per day, including economic and commercial activities. The measure affects 202 municipalities in 14 regions, with almost 6 million inhabitants. Currently, the average water consumption in Catalonia is 117 liters per inhabitant per day, a figure that is above the WHO recommendation, which is 100 liters.
With the entry into force of this phase, all the water savings that occur at home, in economic activities and in sports must serve, according to Mascort, to prolong the entry into the emergency phase, “which would mean applying more serious restrictions ”. In the pre-emergence phase, grass irrigation is prohibited in all cases, except on surfaces intended for federated practice of the sport. Only survival irrigation can be carried out in the trees and private pools for individual or single-family use cannot be filled. Vehicles can only be washed in commercial establishments dedicated to this activity.
To extend the entry into the emergency phase, the Government has launched the “L’aigua no cau del cel” campaign, which gives guidelines for saving water at home. Some of them are: showering instead of bathing, turning off the faucet when brushing your teeth or soaping your hands, repairing faucets that leak water, filling the washing machine well to avoid adding more water, and flushing the toilet by pressing the smallest button. , which is the one that discharges the least liquid.
