Under the motto “The water of the future”, until May 5, the first edition of the Setmanes de l'Aigua is held in the Port of Tarragona, a set of events that are concentrated in Shed 1 of the Moll de Costa and whose objective is to debate and propose solutions to the problems derived from water scarcity. It is, as explained by the president of the Port Authority of Tarragona, Saül Garreta, “the first initiative of this magnitude in Catalonia to talk about the water crisis, with a set of events made up of technical conferences, debates, exhibitions and educational and artistic proposals.”
Rafael López-Monné, director of Climate Action at the Port of Tarragona, explained that this is the second initiative of the new cultural line of the Moll de Costa del Port – after the installation of the SOStenable Dome in Shelter 1 – to create debate and knowledge about the impact and solutions in the fight against climate change.
This new orientation of the cultural and social activity of the Port of Tarragona comes amid growing concerns about drought and water scarcity, as well as the need to address sustainable water management. For this reason, the Port of Tarragona's intention is to collaborate in promoting reflection, knowledge transfer and debate on ways to address current and future challenges.
The central event of the event is made up of the technical conferences “Water management in a climate crisis scenario”, which will be held on April 25 and 26. They aim to address with the actors involved the complexity of water management from a transversal vision: climatic, environmental, social and governance. Beyond the current drought and the unknowns it raises, there will be a debate on how to move towards sustainable management of water resources, and, if possible, a territorially balanced model, based on local availability and that allows the sustainable development of the different economic activities.
The thematic blocks that the conference will address are: the availability of water in a climate crisis scenario; territory management and water availability, solutions to address water scarcity; water management in Tarragona and, finally, good practices in managing the water/energy binomial. The blocks will feature the participation of renowned experts, such as, for example, Francesc Mauri, geographer and television presenter on TV3 (who will talk to us about “How does climate change affect us?”); Sarai Sarroca, director of Meteocat (“Characterization of the current drought”) and Samuel Reyes, director of ACA (“The third planning cycle and the increase in regenerated water”).
The programming also includes debates focused on the most relevant aspects that affect the management of the rivers in the regions of Tarragona: Siurana, Ebro, Francolí and Gaià. The journalist and president of the College of Journalists of Catalonia in Tarragona, Esteve Giralt, will be in charge of leading the participation of the prominent invited specialists. The next appointments will be on Friday the 26th, with the debate “The Ebro River. The connection of basins: benefits and dangers. How far can the Ebro give water?”, and the first Friday of the month of May, on the 3rd, with “The Gaià River. Learn from the past and prepare for the future.”
On the other hand, and in accordance with the Port of Tarragona's desire to commit to the younger generations, a new informative format will also be launched that has been named Tik Talk. It is a meeting between experts, disseminators and high school students to address a topic in depth, in this case, related to water, proposed by the teachers and previously worked on in class. This first pilot meeting to test the format will feature Sandra Contreras, URV researcher, coordinator of the Master in Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Energy, and Laura Bonachí, head of the Environment Department of the Port of Tarragona.
