A week ago, Artur Beiroa, owner of a nautical company in the vicinity of the Llosa del Cavall marsh, would have started the season with the first groups of schoolchildren. But with the reservoir at 25% it is impossible. "The valid areas for setting up the nautical school are at the end of the marsh, but with the water level so low it is unviable, there are no accesses to get there", he explains. Cancel paired reservations week by week. The 120 boats are waiting for rain that hasn't arrived for too long. The situation is not exceptional.
In the Siurana marsh, one of the tourist attractions in the interior of Tarragona, nautical activities have been suspended for the first time in 32 years. With the swamp at a dramatic 7.5%, the family business in charge of renting canoes in this environment gives up the whole season. "I have already warned the workers to look for another job", regrets Santi Borràs. Goodbye to the 18 jobs generated by nautical activity throughout the course.
Nor do they sail in the Sau reservoir, which for weeks has been undergoing an operation to empty and remove fish to save the quality of the little water it has left. It is an operation that, according to the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), will last at least another month. "In addition, the accesses to get into the water are dangerous", explains Enric Dosta, from the Mosenpark water sports school, in Vilanova de Sau. Reservations for the coming months, including those for the summer, are on hold.
With March and April lost, the concern in the area is obvious. "We have committed training activities with institutes, we hope to arrive on time and that it rains", explains Marc Álvarez, director of the Aquaterra Club company. In a good year it used to serve 1,500 schoolchildren and more than 2,000 individuals between May and July. In 2008, with the last major drought that Catalonia suffered, he decided to diversify his activities with excursions with electric segways and archery, among others.
They maintain the activity, but not in the conditions that nautical companies established in other reservoirs would like. Albert Palau, of the Indomit company, in the Baells swamp, with 26% water, half of what it was a year ago, acknowledges that, although they can still provide service, expectations are bad. Last summer he already had to close one of the two bases of the business. "The drought episode does not invite us to be an attractive activity; seeing the swamp with abundant water or almost empty changes a lot”. Faced with these bad omens, it hasn't hired anyone and, if it doesn't rain enough, this Berguedà company won't even have a quarter of the customers it had in previous years. In the Mont-rebei gorge, Àger Aventura't, one of the companies that operates in this natural space, claim that even with abundant rain this summer they would not be able to navigate the imposing area of vertical walls of the gorge. With the Canelles reservoir at 20% capacity, the alternative is to move the kayak excursions to other reservoirs such as Camarasa, which is 73% full.
The reservoir has not changed, but the company Tirantmilles has had to move its activity to areas with more water in the Sant Ponç marsh, in Solsonès. "The swamp is emptying about 5 centimeters a day. At this rate, if it doesn't rain, I don't know if we'll make it to the month of July", explains its owner, Mariona Martí, who is also president of the Association of Nautical Activities and Nature of the Inland Waters of Catalonia, recently established .
Dani Braser, from the Interregional Federation of Hospitality, Restauration and Tourism (FIHRT) and vice-president of Pimec Turisme, says that they are mostly self-employed companies, SMEs or micro-SMEs, which, on average, at the start of the season, have "between eight and ten workers", although some reach twenty in the rural areas where they are established and which make up 60% of the business volume during the summer months. It is also a business that has an impact on accommodation and restaurants.
The president of the entity affirms that last summer was one to forget, not only because of the drought, but also because of the activations of level 3 of the Alfa Plan due to fire risk, which prevented free access to natural parks and areas where this type of business is located. "We have been incurring losses ever since," he says. In some cases they exceeded 70,000 euros. The sector is asking for aid to alleviate the losses caused by the drought and the closure of parks and natural environments due to the risk of fire. "The situation is critical. If it goes on, the losses will be brutal for the companies in the interior counties", they explain.
In Siurana, for example, an important part of its flow, vital for the region of Priorat, has historically been transferred to that of Riudecanyes, in the neighboring region of Baix Camp. "90% of the water goes to Riudecanyes and Reus; the situation is the fault of bad management, it is obvious. Farmers will also not be able to irrigate. The Reus City Council has dried up the reservoir, but they don't care", reports Borràs. Environmental groups have been fighting to reverse the situation for years.
In the north, at the Darnius-Boadella reservoir, at 30% capacity, what worries the companies that operate there now is the summer, when tourism causes the water level in the dam to drop. "In the summer, 40% of the water goes away", explains Joaquín González, from Màgic Empordà. So far, he says he hasn't received any cancellations.
The situation of these reservoirs in the internal basins contrasts with those dependent on the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation, whose average capacity is around 37%, about ten points more. The twenty small businesses, almost all family-owned, in the final section of the Ebro can offer their services as normal. "The forecasts for navigation on the Ebro are good, no restrictions are expected", highlights Josep Maria Sáez, director of the Institute for the Development of the Ebro Regions (Idece). Although the flow is low due to the drought, between Ascó (Ribera d'Ebre), with 153 hm3 of water and a depth of just over one meter, and Amposta (Montsià) the navigable channel remains open. In the Oliana swamp, at half their capacity, they continue to sail and in the Pyrenees they have no problems either. Carlos Rabaneda, of the adventure activities and extreme sports company Roc Roi, based in Llavorsí, points out that the water reserves in the form of snow "guarantee the rafting season until mid-October". And he warns: "The day there is no water in the Pyrenees, Spain will be a desert".
