The director of the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), Samuel Reyes, said yesterday in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio that there are municipalities that spend more water than they should and cited the case of Peralada, whose consumption is equivalent to that of 30 smaller municipalities in Catalonia. Specifically, according to ACA statistics, the figure consumed last June in this municipality of some 2,000 registered inhabitants was 493 liters per inhabitant per day.
A figure "improvable, of which we are not proud", but which can be qualified, according to the mayor, Miquel Brugat. "The statistics do not take into account the tourist character of the municipality and the second residence, which is notable, where many people who are not registered live," justifies the mayor. He explains that the ACA data is based on a slightly upward census made up of 2,135 inhabitants. "But between tourist accommodation, hotels, rural houses and second homes, we estimate that this population should be higher, 3,658 inhabitants," he details. Starting from this figure, Brugat explains that his municipality would have an average consumption per inhabitant per day of 227 liters, a figure that still exceeds the maximum allowed in an emergency scenario like the one that is to come. A part of the water consumed can be lost in watering gardens or filling swimming pools.
Something difficult to control by small town halls like this one. "We don't have the means to know if a neighbor has watered or not," says Brugat. A complaint that the affected municipalities of the Empordà transferred yesterday, in a telematic meeting to Samuel Reyes. The mayor of Sant Pere Pescador and president of the Alt Empordà Regional Council, Agustí Badosa, finds it difficult to enforce the restrictions despite the creation of a standard ordinance. Dolors Pons, mayoress of Viladamat, a municipality that with 378 l/inhabitant per day exceeds the maximum 200 liters set by the decree for the new scenario, is also upset by the ACA data. According to statements collected by the Agència Catalana de Notícies (ACN), she says that the numbers “do not add up” with those available to the Consistory. Even so, she recognizes that measures must be taken, although it cannot be left in the hands of municipalities like hers, with few personnel and tools to enforce the restrictions.
Samuel Reyes reiterated as he did on Wednesday that he is not in favor of water cuts in the 24 municipalities, most of them in the Alt Emporda, which from next week will enter the critical phase of the Special Drought Plan. The emergency scenario, among other things, sets the maximum amount per inhabitant and day of water consumption at 200 liters. A figure that exceeds more than 50% of the 22 municipalities in this region of northern Catalonia that depend on the Fluvià-Muga aquifer, which is at its lowest record due to the lack of rainfall recorded in the area. "I would avoid cuts, but you also have to look at the casuistry and each municipality is very different," said Reyes, who recalled that when you enter this phase there are still months of margin with guaranteed water.
