You can not sing victory (do not know if you can ever already), but at least some of the restrictions on water consumption by drought felixibilizarán today as a result of the improvement in the state of the reservoirs after the last rains.
This has been announced by the Generalitat de Catalunya, which has explained at a press conference the withdrawal of some restrictions on the use of water after the rise in reservoir levels thanks to the rains in March. To get an idea: while a few days ago only 18 geographical units were in a situation of normality, there are currently 8 that are in this phase.
However, it is important not to claim victory. The Government recalls that the basins do not even reach 50% of their capacity, and despite the latest rains and this relaxation of restrictions, the situation is still not good.
What measures against drought have been lifted?
Mainly, the Government has reduced the alert levels in several areas, mainly those supplied by the Darnius-Boadella reservoir, the Riudecanyes reservoir and the Fluvià-Muga aquifer. The changes have been as follows:
- Anoia-Gaià, headwaters of the Ter, Llobregat Mitjà and Prades-Llaberia: from alert to normal.
- Serralada Transversal and Empordà: down from exceptional to alert.
- Riudecanyes: out of emergency and into pre-alert.
The great beneficiary of this development is the Alt Empordà, with several localities whose farmers and ranchers have been suffering more severely the restrictions due to drought. Currently, only Sant Feliu de Codines (Moianès) is still in emergency, since it requested this phase due to the scarcity of water in its wells.
200 municipalities without restrictions
With these changes , Catalonia has gone from having 36 municipalities in the normal phase to 201 municipalities without restrictions.
Regarding the other states, there are 54 municipalities in pre-alert (previously 52), 346 in alert (previously 397) and 28 in exceptional status (previously 108).
Barcelona, without changes in restrictions
Despite these changes, Barcelona and its metropolitan area (the most populated areas of the country, with 5.3 million inhabitants out of more than 7 million in Catalonia), are excluded from the changes in the states of alert, so the area, supplied by the reservoirs of the Ter and Llobregat rivers, remains on alert.
To get out of it, the reservoirs should exceed the threshold of 60%, and only in that case the Generalitat would begin to consider the lifting of the state of emergency.
April, the key month to get out of the emergency
The Generalitat has stated that the April rains will be key to determine the evolution of the state of alert in the different water areas. For this, the reservoirs of the Ter and Llobregat must reach 300 cubic hectometers as established in the Special Drought Plan.
The decision will be taken when the irrigation campaign arrives, since, as explained by the councilor of Territory, Habitatge i Transició Ecològica, Sílvia Paneque, the Government prefers not to lift restrictions in haste to have to re-impose them after a short time.
A drought far from disappearing
The consellera Silvia Paneque has stressed that it is a mistake to imply that the latest rains have “eliminated” the drought, because it is not so, and that is why the Generalitat is working on designing or implementing new models of water management that depend less on rain.
The Generalitat insists on the need to move towards a water transition model that reduces dependence on rainfall. Key measures include:
- Commitment to regenerated water, with projects in the Besòs and Figueres.
- Expansion of desalination, with the tendering of a new plant at the mouth of the Tordera and the installation of mobile desalination plants on the Costa Brava.
- Construction of new wells to improve supply in vulnerable areas.