The water reserves in the Ter and Llobregat reservoirs, which supply the regions of Barcelona and Girona, are below a quarter of their maximum capacity. Specifically, they stand at 23%. The Generalitat predicts that this central region of Catalonia will enter a state of emergency at the end of November if there is not the necessary rain. The 64 Catalan municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants have already presented their municipal drought emergency plans, in which they must specify the essential domestic restrictions in the worst-case scenario (with supply cuts or pressure drop in the worst-case scenario advance of the emergency).
"We have no choice but to persevere in saving; citizens must know that the fact that it rains a little one day does not change the situation, that it has not been resolved, not by a long shot", points out Jordi Molist, director of the supply area of the Catalan Agency for Water (ACA). It rains continuously, persistently and at the headwaters of the rivers is an imperative need. The drought has continued to be "very intense and worrying" this summer, according to Molist. After a period in which the reserves remained stable (in May and June) thanks to some contributions, the level of the reservoirs has been decreasing and continues to fall due to summer consumption and the irrigation campaign ( although very reduced in these dates).
The rain episodes have been insufficient, only fleeting floods have been recorded in the rivers that have lasted a day at most, and the precipitation has been located mainly in the south.
The level of the reservoirs borders on the historical minimums reached in the drought of 2007/2008, when the administrations were forced to hire ships for the supply. The Barcelona region stores 145 hm3 of water (of 612 hm3 of total capacity), while the minimum measured then was 143.7 hm3. "The difference is that we now have two desalination plants and regenerated water that is reused indirectly in the Llobregat, which gives us a margin that we didn't have before", assesses Molist.
The Generalitat's special drought plan predicts that if water resources fall below 100 hm3 (16% of capacity) this region would enter an emergency phase, which is already the case in the Darnius Boadella area, in the Alt Emporda In the first stage, the emergency declaration does not necessarily entail domestic restrictions for essential uses; but the measures will be taken to avoid exceeding the water allocations in the municipalities and the control of prohibited uses of water (such as the use of irrigation of parks and public and private green areas, among others), and until and everything will be incorporated ending the ban on filling swimming pools.
The limitations for the agricultural, livestock and industrial sectors would be intensified until reaching cuts of 80%, 50% and 25% respectively; and allocations to municipalities would be restricted from 230 liters per person per day for all uses to 200 liters. To the extent that this emergency worsens, the municipalities could organize hourly supply cuts or pressure reduction, although the latter option is preferred by the experts.
The Barcelona area is now using the maximum performance of the two desalination plants; captures all the flow of water that circulates through the Llobregat river at the height of Sant Joan Despí to make its flow potable, and the Prat water regeneration plant operates at maximum capacity, which is reused indirectly by pumping it into the river up (1,400 l/s). In addition, water quality controls in the reservoirs are being tightened, since the water table is closer to the mud. Nutrients and algae are specifically controlled to avoid episodes of putrefaction. In addition, the spotabilizers are prepared to deal with a possible deterioration of the flow by providing or renewing the active carbon used in the filtering and treatment.
Undoing the road and getting out of this well is not easy, since the reserves of the rivers must be increased by 65% to get out of the alert situation. An autumn with normal precipitation would lead us to recover reserves by the end of the year "and allow us to get out of the alert next year". But this is a circumstance that requires intense and continuous rains, to go from the current 145 hm3 to 240 hm3, the threshold that allows the alert to be left behind.
