The hoteliers of Lloret de Mar were the first to look for solutions to the lack of water when half of Catalonia entered an exceptional phase, a few months ago. In February they announced the purchase of a portable desalination plant to be able to fill the swimming pools of the second municipality in Catalonia with more hotel beds, only behind Barcelona.
A water infrastructure that has cost 1.5 million euros and that will be paid by the 130 clients who contracted the service before the Generalitat ended the emergency phase and eased the restrictions this Tuesday. A large part of the clientele are tourist companies from Lloret de Mar and the neighboring town of Tossa de Mar. There is also a luxury resort in Caldes de Malavella and two campsites in Sant Pere Pescador.
Although the exit from the emergency phase allows the filling of private and public pools, such as those in hotel facilities, the construction of the portable desalination plant, which is carried out in a company in Valencia, continues. .
“It is an investment that has come to stay, it is a structural element that will be part of the co-owned companies since we also have no guarantees about the stability of this decision (...) we do not know when we can re-enter the emergency phase so that will remain fixed to be able to generate water when necessary,” explains the president of the Gremi d'Hostaleria de Lloret de Mar, Enric Dotras. The Government announced that at least during 2024 it would not enter this scenario again.
The schedule for the desalination plant in Lloret is what was planned a few months ago. Dotras explains that the machine will arrive at the beginning of next June to the municipality and that it will be installed at one end of Gran beach. It will be assembled and left ready so that it can go into operation, when necessary.
"If the percentage of the reservoirs on which we depend anticipate in June, when the machine arrives, that in October or November we could enter a risk situation, we would start it up," said Dotras, who celebrates that the rain that fell in recent weeks has allowed us to exit the emergency phase, despite the outlay that hoteliers have had to make to ensure a good tourism campaign.
Dotras explains that the decision to buy a desalination plant was a matter of “responsibility.” “Our responsibility obliged us to take measures to prevent us from having a tourism pandemic,” he explains. The president of the Lloret hoteliers acknowledges that that announcement gave “peace of mind” to the markets and that reservations today are above those registered a year ago.
A change of scenery in the drought traffic light that the tourism sector celebrates. The president of the Unió d'Empresaris d'Hostaleria i Turisme Costa Brava Centre, Bàrbara Hallé, recognizes that leaving the emergency phase “gives peace of mind” and eliminates the “uncertainty” of clients, who did not know if they were going to have water in swimming pools.
Even so, Hallé asks the future Government that comes out of the next elections to “not relax” and carry out all necessary water investments. He also demands that the subsidy lines that have been promoted during this crisis to make investments in the hotel sector not be eliminated.
The camping sector is also celebrating the easing of restrictions. The president of the Girona Camping Association, Miquel Gotanegra, states that “it is a respite” although he recognizes that it is still “a patch.” “What has saved the situation is the rain,” he recalls and urges the administration to find solutions so that crises of this type are not repeated.
“You have to plan the necessary infrastructure to face future episodes, you cannot improvise at every moment,” he assures and urges work to reuse the water from the treatment plants. “You cannot throw regenerated water into the sea as is being done today,” she says.
Regarding the impact on reservations that this episode may have had, Gotanegra explains that the clientele of the Girona campsites is “very loyal.” “In addition, in our sector we have always said that swimming pools would work no matter what,” he says.
The hotelier, who is also president of the Alt Empordà Hospitality Business Association - a region that still has a dozen municipalities in emergency phase 2 - also celebrates the commissioning of portable desalination plants in Roses and Empuriabrava , as announced by the Costa Brava Water Consortium and the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) a few weeks ago.
Remember that Roses in high season can consume 15,000 cubic meters of water per day and that the desalination plant will generate about 6,000 cubic meters per day. “40% of the population will use desalinated water,” he says.
Another important tourism sector in the Girona district, housing for tourist use, predicts a “calm” summer after the drought scenario has changed. However, its president, Esther Torrent, is critical of how the drought has been managed.
“Actually the rain has saved us; "You have to plan for the medium and long term," he explains and considers the interconnection of the Ebro with the Llobregat vital. “In the same way that the Ter river is connected to the Llobregat, it is not understood that the Ebro, with a much greater flow, is not also connected,” he explains.
Also in this sector, reserves are at a similar rate to that of a year ago. Then the summer closed with occupancy of 75% in July and 89% in August.
