Drinking water restrictions will not reach Barcelona at least until the summer

Catalonia will enter a drought emergency in the coming weeks, unless there is an episode of very abundant rain. But despite the emergency scenario, Barcelona will be able to maintain its drinking water supply in the coming months, because its consumption is relatively low, 173 liters per inhabitant per day last year. The emergency phase has three stages and if it did not rain, in the worst case scenario, the restrictions would not reach the neighbors' taps until summer. Because it would not be until the so-called Emergency III phase when the city would exceed the maximum consumption foreseen in the plan, of 160 liters per person per day. It is between June and September when the city usually uses the most drinking water, above 170 liters, with data from last year. If they arrive, the restrictions will materialize by lowering the network pressure, not by cutting off the supply.

Beyond drinking water, the emergency declaration will affect municipal services, such as watering vegetation and cleaning streets. On the eve of this scenario, the Chief Engineer of the Barcelona City Council, Oriol Altisench, and those responsible for Urban Services, the manager Sònia Frias, and of Barcelona Ciclo del Agua, Cristina Vila, have appeared to explain what awaits the city in the next months. “If the situation does not improve in the second half of January, we would enter emergency I and if in spring there is not the usual rain, we would enter emergency II in April and emergency III in July,” summarized the general director of BCASA. Vila has also explained that if under normal conditions, without drought, Barcelona is supplied by 80% of the swamps of the Ter-Llobregat system, as the situation of lack of rain has progressed, alternative resources have been activated: phreatic water (from the subsoil , which in Barcelona is not drinkable), that which comes from desalination plants and that which is reused now accounts for 80% of what the city consumes. “If we will endure now in an emergency, it is thanks to the great infrastructures that were built after the last great drought,” that of 2008.

Irrigation of green spaces. The emergency will greatly impact the irrigation of green spaces, which are 80% irrigated with drinking water and 20% with groundwater, from the subsoil. In the emergency phase, the drought decree prohibits irrigating green areas even with subsoil water, but the City Council has asked the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) to be able to irrigate with groundwater, because Barcelona water is not drinkable. The council trusts that the Government will allow it. But even so, irrigation would only reach a third of the spaces that are irrigated in a normal situation, when there is no drought. In emergency it would go from three cubic hectometers per year to only 0.87 cubic hectometers. Of these, some are parks or areas that are already connected to underground water pockets (such as Glòries and its surroundings), but in the rest of the city it would have to be done by hand, with vats holding one ton of water. In this case, trees and palm trees on large avenues, streets that have vegetation (Paseo de Sant Joan or Diagonal), and historical or emblematic parks (the Cervantes rose garden or the Laberint park) will be prioritized. The manager of Urban Services, Sònia Frias, has stated that a drought like the current one poses: “We have a dilemma, which is not to put water and nature into competition: letting the green die is not the situation to get out of climate change, neighbors and vegetation compete for the same resource.”

Street washing and urban cleaning. The emergency will also affect street cleaning services, always using underground water and 28 tanker trucks. For the necessary operation it would be necessary to do three shifts that worked 24 hours a day, so the council, Frias explained, is negotiating with the unions how to organize these shifts. For now there are no plans to hire personnel.

Swimming pools. The City Council has also asked the Government to be able to use groundwater for the minimum filling of public and public swimming pools. In general, in Catalonia the use of subsoil water is prohibited in the emergency phase because in many places it is potable water, while in Barcelona the subsoil water is “non-potable and non-potable” due to its chemical composition and high salt content. . The municipal officials responsible for the drought mechanism, however, have recognized that “the groundwater table has never been so stressed as it is now.” “For now, hold on,” they celebrated.

Gray water ordinance and new infrastructure. In the short term, and to increase the city's resilience to drought, the City Council is also preparing investments in infrastructure to connect more areas of the city to the groundwater and not have to irrigate with drinking water; and an ordinance to force new construction to reuse gray water. That is, the water that homes flush through sinks, washbasins or showers has its own circuit and can be reused to flush the toilet.

Drought table meeting. On January 16, the drought table is scheduled to meet, led by the Chief Engineer of Barcelona City Council, Oriol Altisench, and in which the managers of all the affected municipal areas (street cleaning, sports, parks, social services) will participate. …), the ACA, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), the Government Delegation or the water companies.

The big consumption figures in Barcelona. Since 1999, and largely thanks to that episode, the city has registered a sharp drop in consumption: 22% less in domestic consumption, 28% in industry, hotels and commerce; and 32% municipal services. In the case of drinking water, the bulk of consumption is domestic (69%), 26% corresponds to commerce and industry (which includes hotels and restaurants) and 5% municipal (from the irrigation of parks, to the street cleaning, passing through municipal facilities or buildings).

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