Users of sports centers will not be able to shower in the locker rooms starting in January. It is one of the new measures that will be activated when the Generalitat decrees entry into the emergency scenario, the most restrictive phase of the Special Drought Plan (PES), if it does not rain. In fact, the Minister of Climate Action, David Mascort, called on the Catalan population this Monday to stop doing it because the water consumption is “much greater” than in a domestic shower. “Now it is a proposal, in January it will be an obligation,” explained the counselor. However, the physical activity and sports sector does not welcome this new restriction.
Iolanda Latorre, manager of the Association of Catalan Fitness Club Companies (Adecaf) highlights by phone that it is a “unilateral and useless measure because it harms the sector and benefits no one.” The Catalan board explains that they have asked the general secretary of sport for a meeting with Mascort because they already anticipated the closure of the showers and want to propose other solutions. “They have acted again without taking us into account and with the most complete ignorance. In gyms we already take measures to reduce consumption. There are aerators that reduce the flow and the shower heads are prepared with timers that cut off the shower,” says Latorre, who recalls that gym showers use between 40 and 60 liters compared to 100 liters in domestic toilets.
The emergency phase allows the irrigation of federated sports, such as soccer, and the filling of public swimming pools. Something that Salvador Valls, president of the Consell Esportiú del Baix Llobregat, celebrates: “During the pandemic we were not treated like that. This time we have had the sensitivity to value the importance of swimming pools. The world of sports has shown that we are essential in people's daily lives and in their health,” says Valls by phone, but highlights that hygiene is “a primary need” for practicing sports.
The possible decrease in monthly payments is another of the big issues that worries Latorre because users will not have the complete service: “We will have to face it to comply with consumer rights.” And he points out: “People shower quickly at the gym to continue with their day. With this measure, more water is consumed. “I don't know if what they want is for him not to go to the gym.”
The cuts to the flows of the Llobregat, Ter and Muga rivers are part of the new package of measures announced yesterday by the Catalan Executive and that will be activated in January, when the reservoirs of the internal hydrographic basins are expected to have 16% of their capacity. . The Government is also considering the possibility of bringing water by boat to the Port of Barcelona to guarantee the consumption of the almost six million inhabitants of the area of influence of Barcelona and some towns in Girona. “We know that these are decisions that many will not like, but the situation is complicated and requires making these types of difficult decisions,” said Mascort.
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