The option of bring water in boats to alleviate the effects of drought -cAs already happened in the 2008 water crisis– could be one of the measures that are on the table. In an interview on ‘Els matins’, on TV3, the director of the Catalan Water Agency, Samuel Reyes, assured that in an emergency situation like the current scenario “nothing can be ruled out”. “We must analyze all possible solutions,” she responded when asked if this measure is being considered.
Reyes, however, has prioritized investment in “long-term” infrastructure rather than betting on “ephemeral” options, and has stressed that the ACA policy involves encourage water saving yrmake investmentssuch as desalination plants, that allow increase purification.
Possibility of sanction
In this sense, Reyes has announced that they have sent requirements for excess water consumption to 170 municipalities and 41 industries from all over Catalonia. These notifications, he has detailed, include a notice about the possibility of initiating a sanction file. The requirements have been sent after the summer, once the moratorium approved by the Parliament on these penalties ended.
Although the economic amounts corresponding to minor penalties are low, the director of the ACA has warned that serious and very serious penalties are much more significant. In this sense, he stated that ultimately They can reach up to 200,000 euros.
Emergency in December
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The director of the ACA has recognized that the situation in Catalonia is very worrying and has indicated that the reservoirs are at 20% of their capacity; That is, in a situation similar to that of March 2008, when one of the most extreme drought episodes occurred. However, he has insisted that the current reaction capacity is much higher because in recent years desalination plants such as the one in El Prat have been built and also because measures and policies have been promoted to reduce water consumption in all sectors. “The reservoirs have reached 20% in 36 months and in 2008 this figure was achieved in just 18 months,” he recalled.
However, it has admitted that the lack of rain during the month of September, with the exception of those that affected the Terres de l’Ebre, and the low probability of new rainfall in the coming weeks, will lead to the entry into an emergency situation. in December. “If it rains the historic minimum, we will enter December,” anticipated Reyes, who added that this amount is extremely low. For this reason he has considered that in the worst case the emergency phase could be brought forward a week or two.