Sabadell City Council asks the Generalitat to allow municipal swimming pools to open in summer.
The council is preparing a proposal to modify the emergency decree due to drought, with which it will also demand that green areas that act as climate refuges can be irrigated with regenerated or groundwater water.
The local government defends the work carried out, which has allowed us to reach a consumption of 156 liters per day per inhabitant, well below the limit established in emergency phase 1, of 200. Along these lines, the second deputy mayor, Eloi Cortés regrets that the package of measures has not been agreed upon with the municipalities, and for now rules out reducing the pressure on the network, as well as closing the showers in municipal facilities.
Sabadell is one of the 202 Catalan municipalities that from this Friday are affected by the entry into force of phase 1 of the drought emergency, once published in the Official Journal of the Generalitat of Catalonia (DOGC).
This implies a water consumption limit of 200 liters per day per inhabitant, a restriction of 80% in agricultural uses, 25% in industrial uses and 25% in recreational uses.
The local government defends that the City Council and citizens have done their homework, with a consumption of 156 liters per day per person, well below what is contemplated in the current emergency situation, but also lower than the figure planned in phase 2, of 180 , and in 3, 160. In 2023, water consumption was reduced by 3.31% in the city, and specifically at the municipal level it fell by 33.84%, at the domestic level by 1.57%, and in in terms of leaks, 7.75% thanks to the network maintenance and repair plan.
It is in this context that the municipal government is drafting a proposal that will be submitted to the Generalitat to reduce the impact of the restrictions, mainly with regard to the maintenance and opening of municipal swimming pools for the summer and for the conservation of shelters. climatic conditions, guaranteeing irrigation with regenerated or groundwater water.
"Now we will have to stop injecting water into the pools affected by evaporation, and we ask that the water intake be maintained to prevent emptying and that they be able to open in summer," highlighted the second deputy mayor of Sabadell, Eloi Cortés. .
In Sabadell, the non-opening affects recreational pools, where some 314,000 bathers passed through last year. The majority of them were users of La Bassa, in Sant Oleguer, with 194,133 visitors, but Can Marcet, Olimpia, Campoamor and Ca n'Oriac were also frequented. However, the measures would leave pools such as those at Club Natació Sabadell and Joan Serra on the sidelines, given that they are covered and have non-recreational uses.
Cortés has also ruled out converting the pools to use salt water, given that it cannot be poured into the network as if it can be done with the water used today, and because the filters are not ready for the change. .
Regarding municipal sports facilities, the City Council has chosen to keep the showers open, with a lower flow rate, but guaranteeing their operation for users, most of them members of sports clubs. However, reducing the water pressure in the supply network is currently ruled out: "We have carried out tests to know what to do if the time comes, but we do not work with this scenario," added Cortés.
The council also wants shrubs and plants in spaces recognized as climate refuges to be watered using regenerated or groundwater water, as well as the grass in swimming pools. This last point would ensure that the rest areas were not dominated by soil, which would end up dirtying the pool and even straining the purification systems.
The councilor has also highlighted that it is requested to be able to maintain the artificial lakes, in the case of Sabadell, the Parc Catalunya. "We would use groundwater, with the water company we have analyzed a report that supports its use after carrying out its hydrogeological assessment," he highlighted. In this sense, the water would come from wells and would allow it not to be obtained from the tap network.
Cortés has also regretted that the Government has presented a package of measures without consensus with the territory, which will have to assume, for example, the system of penalties for those neighbors who consume more than their share. With that objective, the local executive is working on a sanctioning regime that will be presented in the coming weeks.
