Catalonia loses 24% of its drinking water from the water distribution pipes. They are 134,000 million liters. Or, what is the same: 134 hm3, the capacity of a reservoir like Sau (Ter). The Generalitat, through the Agència Catalana de l'Aigua (ACA), blames the municipalities for most of these losses. The ACA attributes most of the waste of water to the poor state of the pipelines under local jurisdiction. The most paradigmatic cases of this situation are those of Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Badalona. The greatest number of losses is located in the municipal networks, which is why the Catalan Executive allocates 50 million euros in aid to repair local water leaks.
In Santa Coloma, the mayoress Núria Parlón, has asked Aigües Ter Llobregat (ATL) to repair a leak in the Che Guevara park, in the Les Oliveres neighborhood, which daily loses around 86,000 liters of water (more than 1 liter per second). Company sources explain, however, that controls are being carried out to determine the origin of the water and that, for now, "it cannot be ensured that the water that is lost is from an ATL pipeline." Municipal sources acknowledge that water has been gushing out at this point in the municipality for many years, without being able to specify, however, the exact date of the start of the leak. In any case, there is no date to fix the fault.
The leak in Santa Coloma is added to that of the Canyet neighborhood of Badalona, where every day, since 2005, 180,000 liters of water have been lost from the canalization that transports water from the Ter to the Cardedeu station in the direction of Trinidad (Barcelona ) to be distributed.
The conduction suffers continuous losses of water (about 2 liters per second) as it is a very old work and in poor condition, so it is necessary to build a new pipeline. As a result of neighborhood pressure, part of the flow was channeled to an irrigation tank in Badalona, but this is insufficient.
The neighbors assure that they will demonstrate again to repair this leak after the complaint before the Environmental Prosecutor's Office in 2008, solved in a disappointing way for them. The claim will be expressed again next Sunday the 23rd with a day with the slogan "Stop water loss in Canyet" in the Badalona neighborhood where the leak is located. Neighborhood leaders such as Pepe Sánchez, from the Federation of Neighborhood Associations, announce that they do not rule out going to court again to mitigate what they consider "a crime against the environment".
The ACA admits that in order to solve the underlying problem, it is necessary to address a new phase of this channeling, which requires an investment of around 36 million, necessary to build a new pipeline, with the forecast that the works could begin in 2025. those responsible for the ACA, in Badalona the loss is not a significant expense since "the efficiency of this artery is 98%".
And in Olot, the city council recognizes that 38% of the water in the pipes is lost due to leaks, difficult to locate in any of the 250 kilometers of pipes, since the water filters into the subsoil. In Girona, the losses in their networks are estimated at 20%.
