The Councilor for Climate Action of the Generalitat of Catalonia, David Mascort, has called for "territorial solidarity" to be able to bring boats with water to Barcelona, if necessary in the coming months due to the unprecedented drought that Catalonia is experiencing.
In an interview with the Efe agency, Mascort explained that boats with water are an option that is on the table for when Catalonia enters the emergency phase, which occurs when the swamps in the internal basins reach 16%.
Currently, the Ter Llobregat system, which supplies 202 municipalities in Barcelona and part of Tarragona that are home to some six million inhabitants, is in the pre-emergency phase, with reserves at 18%.
"The latest rains have stopped the swamps from falling for the first time in two months, but right now I am unable to say when we will reach 16%," something that will also depend on whether it rains and consumption: "We sense that consumption November will be much lower than last November," the councilor predicted.
In any case, the water boat option would be activated, in order to minimize the impact of the severe restrictions, within the emergency phase but not in the first stages of it, although the calendar is still unknown. : "I don't know, but I don't foresee it being in the first quarter," Mascort said.
Although there is no date, the operation is already being prepared and, among the options being considered is that the ships dock in the Port of Barcelona with water loaded in Murcia, Mallorca or, surely one of the most plausible, from Tarragona, which has raised the suspicions of the Platform in Defense of the Ebro, a movement that was created to mobilize against the transfer policy of the Government of José María Aznar (PP).
"A temporary solution of one, two or three boats to bring water to residents of Barcelona who do not have water, is this really a drama? If we were putting pipes for a transfer I would understand the concern, but taking boats with water to people that does not have it, does this have to be a national problem? There should be a component of territorial solidarity with the people who will have a hard time because they do not have water," said Mascort.
The councilor has stressed that Tarragona's water situation is not the same as Barcelona, since "they do not consume all the water supply they have", or in other words, "they have enough water to cover their needs".
Mascort, who on November 24 held a meeting with the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, has assured that relations are "very good" and that the Government offered to help.
"When ships have to come, the vice president is willing to help us," said the minister.
In the meeting it was also agreed that the Government will allocate 435 million euros for the two new desalination plants planned by the Generalitat, Tordera II in Blanes (Girona) and Foix, which will be located between the municipal limits of Cubelles (Barcelona) and Cunit (Tarragona).
Mascort has indicated that the forecast is that between "2027 and 2030 both will be done", which will contribute to the Barcelona metropolitan area depending very little on the swamps (rainwater).
The two new desalination plants would produce 140 cubic hectometers per year, which would be added to another 140 hm3 from the two plants already in operation and at full capacity: Tordera I and El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona).
These 280 hm3 plus the 60 hm3 that will be recovered from the Besòs River will add up to 340 hm3, when the consumption of the metropolitan area is currently 400 hm3, so only 60 hm3 of swamps would be required.
On the other hand, Mascort has pointed out that in the emergency phase it is planned to lower the water pressure, which would reduce consumption by between 8 and 10%, although it is a measure that must be "very surgical."
Thus, he has detailed that it can be applied in small towns with low buildings and short pipeline routes, as in fact it is already being done in some Catalan municipalities.
On the other hand, it is more difficult to apply in areas of the metropolitan area where there are buildings with "ground floor plus 18 floors", because the water needs more pressure to reach each home: "It cannot be something homogeneous," he stressed.
