It is a matter of days or weeks, but the Catalan administrations assume that the time will come for the declaration of the emergency phase of the drought in the Barcelona area. Because the most intense and persistent drought since there are records (1905) has already lasted 38 months. The Generalitat's plan divides the territory into supply systems, and the one that affects Barcelona and its surroundings is the ATLL system, the Ter and Llobregat rivers. The reservoirs of this system were at 17.1% of their capacity this Friday (105 cubic hectometers are dammed) and the declaration of emergency is planned when the threshold of 100 cubic hectometers is lowered, which coincides with 16% of its level. In this scenario, beyond restrictions on watering vegetation, ornamental fountains, street cleaning, or filling swimming pools and cleaning vehicles, domestic water restrictions are planned if consumption exceeds certain quantities. This will be when the drought could reach the neighbors' taps. What follows are the details of the scenario that awaits the great Barcelona.
What is the scope of the Ter Llobregat system, of which Barcelona is a part? This Ter Llobregat system includes the city of Barcelona, its metropolitan area (the 35 municipalities that surround the capital), but also the two regions of Vallès (Oriental and Occidental), Maresme and the region of La Selva (Girona). Towards the south, it supplies the Garraf, Alt Penedès, Anoia and Solsonès axis. It is the so-called Metropolitan Region (the Barcelona of five million inhabitants), and even more, towards Vilafranca, Igualada and Solsona. In total, more than 100 municipalities. In all of them, the competent administration in matters of supply is the City Councils, except in the 36 that make up the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB), where the competence lies with this entity.
What domestic restrictions does the emergency phase establish? At the outset, it is important to note that this phase has three subscenarios (I, II and III). In Emergency I, the consumption of the municipalities cannot exceed 200 liters per inhabitant per day. In Emergency II the threshold is 180 liters. And in Emergency III, 160. The restrictions would begin if these consumptions were exceeded. Barcelona is below (173 liters last November). And the AMB average is 170 liters per inhabitant per day, explains the director of water cycle services for the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, Fernando Cabello. He also clarifies that this figure taken as a reference adds up domestic consumption, industry, commerce, hotels or municipal services. And that there is a minority of AMB municipalities that do exceed 200 liters of daily consumption, which would be the first where it would be necessary to intervene if they do not reduce their consumption.
In what areas will the restrictions materialize? The pipe system does not understand municipal terms, it is a network that, captured on a map, evokes the shape of a river and its tributaries. In this network, the unit on which measures can be taken, touching the taps, are the hydraulic sectors, often straddling two municipalities, Cabello clarifies. In the AMB, the 36 municipalities add up to about 270 hydraulic sectors.
And how will they materialize? Water pressure is the key. The person responsible for water cycle services in the Metropolitan Area explains that the pressure of the domestic supply is not the same during the day as it is at night. During the day it is higher, because consumption is lower; and at night it falls, because consumption falls. Hence, when the restrictions scenario arrives, in Emergency I “the first step is for the daytime pressure to be the same as the nighttime pressure,” he indicates. A measure that, he details, citizens will notice at times of high consumption (early in the morning, when there is intensive use of sinks and showers, for example), but less so in the afternoon (when domestic consumption is more staggered). . In Emergency II and Emergency III, if consumption did not fall, the pressure would be gradually reduced, “to adjust demand,” Cabello summarizes.
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How is the pressure drop perceived? Does it affect higher floors more? Higher floors need higher water pressure and may seem like they will be the first to notice the drop. But precisely the tallest buildings have equipment, pumps and tanks, so that the water reaches the highest floors. In these properties it may happen that the neighbor on a tenth has more pressure than the neighbor on the fourth. With the pressure drop, it may also be that water reaches a home, but with such low pressure that its boiler does not detect it and does not heat the water: it would have water, but cold.
AND restaurants, hotels or industries? Once the restrictions arrived, food establishments would not notice the pressure drop as much because they are located on ground floors. In the case of hotels, they usually have pumps and, due to their high consumption, they have become aware of the need to reduce them, knowing that they are in the spotlight. The industry also has pumps, tanks or equipment to deal with a pressure drop.
Are there critical users? Yes, explains the head of the AMB: critical users are those equipment where it is considered that there is a life-threatening risk. They are hospitals, medical centers or the Zoo. In this case, given that reducing pressure can be done through hydraulic sectors, the pressure is not modified in these locations.
Is the water planned to be cut off? In the current plan, it is not foreseen. It would be a problem because “the network is not prepared to open and close,” says Cabello. Malfunctions could occur when returning pressure. “In municipalities where the network is not prepared, when the pressure retur
ns there may be breakdowns [reventones] and you end up losing more water.” This is the main argument for not cutting off, and another is the qualitative control of the water: when the supply is resumed, a few minutes are necessary to guarantee that it meets the sanitary parameters. The Catalan municipalities where the water has been cut off, responds the person in charge of the AMB, are located outside the large networks and depend on wells that have dried up due to the lack of rain. In these cases they need to be supplied with vats.
Who is in charge of reducing the pressure? The supplying companies. Cabello explains that the AMB has an operational contingency plan in a drought situation, “a roadmap on how to lower the pressure in the municipalities.” Many companies operate in the 36 municipalities (Aigües de Barcelona, Agbar companies, Aigües de Catalunya, municipal companies) and each of them has an annex to the document detailing what their operations would be.
Is there a meeting planned prior to the declaration of Emergency? Yes. In Barcelona, although the supply plan that governs is that of the AMB, the dialogue is fluid with the City Councils and a working group has been established that has already held a first meeting. It is made up of the actors involved: municipal management of Barcelona City Council, AMB, Catalan Water Agency, Aigües de Barcelona, Aigües del Ter-Llobregat and Government Delegation.
Good news, within the negative scenario. Fernando Cabello highlights that the average domestic consumption in the AMB is 98 liters per inhabitant per day. “The World Health Organization (WHO) considers 100 liters a day a decent consumption,” he points out to affirm that consumption in Barcelona is “adjusted” and that citizens are responsible. In the 2008-2009 drought, the residents of the large city became aware and no restrictions were necessary for consumption to plummet: the levels prior to that scenario have not yet been recovered.
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