Vallirana (23,000 inhabitants) is the first municipality in Catalonia to enter the emergency phase of its own volition. The Government has finally approved what the town council of this town in Baix Llobregat had been demanding for months. For months, the situation has been extreme, since the town’s aquifer is dying. Eva María Martínezthe mayor, details that the wells that supply the town, this summer, have dried up like never before.
Vallirana has asked to connect to the Ter-Llobregat network so as not to depend on the wells, which will be a reality in 2026
In Vallirana there have been restrictions on the use of water since 2021. “Since then we cannot fill swimming pools or water gardens. The problem is that This summer, everything got complicated“, details Martinez. With the accumulated water shortage, the water columns of the aquifer, which used to have a depth of 70 meters, dropped to three meters.
“We have been asking for an emergency for months to save more and prevent the wells from drying up”
Eva Maria Martínez, mayor of Vallirana
In Vallirana something similar to what they are experiencing happened Cabrera d’Anoia either L’Espluga de Francolí. “We had to turn off the water during the night and pull Tank trucks that refilled the deposits,” recalls the mayor. The september rains They alleviated the situation relatively. However, the Vallirana council intends to enter the emergency phase in order to save as much as possible and avoid returning to the summer situation.
Leaks and urbanizations
To resolve the problem definitively, Vallirana has started the procedures to connect your networks to ATL (Ens d’Abastament d’Aigua Ter-Llobregat). In this way, they could resort to the water of these two rivers and would not depend exclusively on groundwater.
He project has already been tendered and the next steps of the process will be to tender the works and execute them: “We estimate that in September 2026 “We could already be connected to the network.” “Everything is taking a long time and we demand urgency from the Government to speed up the process,” he claims. Martinez. “We ask to enter an emergency to raise awareness among citizens that every drop counts and also for resist as many months as we can without having to apply more restrictive measures,” says the mayor.
In Vallirana, water has become the great political priority
Vallirana’s other problem, in addition to having the almost dry aquiferAre the leaks. As two thirds of the inhabitants live in housing estates, this involves many kilometers of old distribution network. “We have carried out a campaign to reduce and repair many of the leaks we had. We have also applied for subsidies offered by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) to invest in improvements,” says Martínez.
Responsible people
A group of those affected has been created in the town because there is concern. Also a commission to promote responsible consumption and another to follow in detail the interconnection process with ATL. The people, in this town, comply. According to the latest data, an average of 177 liters per inhabitant per day were consumed. If the emergency is confirmed, the limit would be 200.
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Vallirana had another problem, in this case, with the quality of the water in one of the wells. An excess of sulfates was detected in the month of April and the water was said to be unfit for consumption. However, the Health Department qualified this statement and considered that it could be drunk, even if this problem exists.
To solve it, you need dilute part of this water with water from other wells in good condition. But this, in the midst of a drought, is not easy, since the other wells have low stocks. The complete solution will go through connect the town with the Ter-Llobregat network and alternate the water from this supply entity with the town’s aquifers. This will be the great subject of the legislature in Vallirana, a town where water has become the great political priority.