Catalonia already adds two years of drought, which have left the reserves of the Catalan swamps at a minimum, without enough snow accumulated in the Pyrenees this winter, which should help to recharge them in the thaw, and with their natural environment and farms thirsty and in need of a sustained volume of rain, which is not visible on the horizon, to recover . A scenario that can lead to a really compromising situation this summer if the weather conditions continue. And unmanageable if the saving measures approved this Tuesday did not begin to be applied already. Faced with a similar situation in 2008, the tripartite deployed facilities such as those desalination plants which for years have been underused but which have been at full capacity for months now. Its existence, as well as the reuse of water from treatment plants for various uses, has so far avoided a more compromising situation. But soon it won’t be enough. Neither in the short term nor in the long term: this type of solution has its limits and involves an energy expenditure that must be considered when considering the adaptation to a new reality marked by the environmental crisis.
For now, however, we must think in the short term. Restrictive measures can cause inconvenience and inconvenience. It is the least that we must assume in the adaptation that awaits us in a scenario in which the norm may no longer be seasonal or cyclical droughts, but chronic water shortages. These measures also have a part that must be complied with by the administrations, and another that depends on the responsibility of each individual citizen. As on so many occasions now, the challenge for each one of us will be to put civic spirit ahead of personal comfort, and even legitimate private interests. But beyond doing what is necessary to weather a water crisis situation, the country must consider its adaptation to this new reality, and that involves restoring hydrological systems, strengthening infrastructures for optimize the water cycle and consider among the conditions that may or may not make possible urban, tourist or industrial projects, the availability of water supply. Many other resources (financial, raw materials, territory…) are not infinite. And the water will be more and more finite.
Meanwhile, with the elections in sight, PP and Vox return to seek the answer in a National Hydrological Plan that reopens the door to large transfers between basins, especially in the direction of areas of intensive agriculture in regions such as Murcia. The estimation of surpluses in basins that would allow transfers usually does not take into account the maintenance needs of fragile ecosystems in the ceding basins. And commitment to the maintenance of models of agricultural production that perhaps in a new climatic environment are no longer possible in certain areas, or only become so with a rethinking of resources and technologies. In other words, it is a commitment to obtain electoral gains in sensitive areas and does not assume the need for a deeper change in the face of a new reality. Faced with a perspective that includes restrictions on the supply of drinking water, exceptional and questionable measures in comfortable situations become necessary. But to think only in the short term is to deceive yourself.