The livestock farms located in the regions that are supplied by Catalan internal basins They are beginning to consider their immediate future very seriously. If the drought continues (as it seems it will) and water-saving measures are therefore tightened, many farm owners They are going to have to choose to close temporarily. “At this time, many ranchers have reached limit the entry of animals into farms because they cannot risk running out of water to give them a drink,” explains Jordi Armengol, head of the sector at the agricultural union Unió de Pagesos (UP). The sector lives in suspense before the imminent declaration of pre-emergency due to drought, the previous scenario to the emergency, which would affect around 55% of farms that is active in Catalonia.
However, before reaching this point, Armengol continues, “we must exhaust all savings options of water.” “We ranchers have already one year applying restrictionssince the alert phase was declared in the Empordà area, which was the first to suffer the water crisis,” he indicates. “We are making a significant effort to reduce water consumptionbecause we are aware that the situation is very complicated… That is why there would be no logic that now they would like to open new farms or expand them in the affected regions,” reflects the head of UP before the announcement that the Generalitat will prohibit, when it enters the emergency phase, making investments to increase economic activities that use a lot of water.
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In any case, “what we do ask is that discrimination situations in relation to other economic sectors such as tourism and industry”, insisted the rancher, who recalled that on farms, unlike other areas, it is not possible to use regenerated water, one of the alternatives that is gaining the most weight in this period of drought. “In no case will a water quality that is not suitable for animal consumption,” the trade unionist stressed. “And, of course, economic interest will never go above the public health“, he added.
Unió de Pagesos, which is also part of the Sequera Board, is also concerned about the state of the water reserves in the Segre river basin, which is where the bulk of Catalonia’s livestock activity is concentrated and which, if it continues at this pace, will soon also begin to have water supply problems. “We come from last year’s experience in the Canal d’Urgell and we are already fearing the worst,” Armengol warned.