Forecasts keep Catalonia away from drought emergency
The Government is counting on spring rains and planned works to generate water to avoid tougher restrictions
BarcelonaCatalonia will most likely avoid a return to drought emergency in 2025. The forecast of a rainy spring and the actions planned by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) to generate more water make this scenario unlikely for the vast majority of the population. The reservoirs in the internal basins remain low – they are at 31% and have 216 cubic hectometres (hm³) available – but they double the figures from just one year ago. All of this indicates that this year the reserves will hardly fall below the critical threshold of 16% that implies entering into an emergency.
"If the forecasts made by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC) are fulfilled, together with the works that are being carried out and will come into operation this year, we will avoid entering into a state of emergency this year," sources from the Catalan Water Agency assure ARA. The spring months - March, April and May - will see the usual or even above average rainfall. I am not used to it," sources from the SMC have explained to ARA.
And it seems that this year April may be especially rainy. For now, this first weekend of March officially marks the start of meteorological spring - astronomical spring will not arrive until the 20th - and it will get off to a good start, since precipitation is expected in various parts of the country. And the forecasts indicate that next week the weather will continue to be unsettled, with the risk of new rain. Good news after a winter that has been mostly dry and that has meant that the historic drought that we have been suffering for more than three years is still very much alive.
As for the works to produce more water, by the end of this year it is expected that 31 more cubic hectometres (hm³) will be available thanks to the actions that the Government has planned throughout the year. For example, the use of water from wells, the incorporation of flows from the Rubí stream into the Llobregat for purification in Sant Joan Despí and the expansion of the Trinitat water treatment plant.
All of this is part of the government package of measures planned until 2034 that should allow up to 280 more hm³ to be available thanks to the increase in desalination and water regeneration and the use of more resources from the Besòs river, among others. The goal is that in less than ten years, 70% of water demand will not depend on reservoirs.
Clear improvement in one year
Although we are still in drought and with reservoirs still quite empty, the situation has clearly improved in a year. At the beginning of last March, reserves were below 15% – less than half of what they are now – and were about to reach their lowest level ever (14.41%). Six million inhabitants were in a state of emergency due to drought. However, for several months now, many municipalities have already gone down to the exceptional or alert phase. However, some towns are still in a state of emergency, as is the case of those in Alt Empordà.
The rains of last spring were key to reviving and boosting the reserves, but the improvement of the reservoirs of the internal basins has been very irregular. While the two large reservoirs, Baells and Susqueda, are breathing more easily and are now at 54% and 39%, respectively, those in the south and Empordà remain very low: Riudecanyes and Siurana are at 24% and 9%, respectively, and Darnius-Boadella is not rising. Sau is practically empty again (6%), but this is mainly due to the fact that part of its water has been transferred to Susqueda. On the other hand, the Catalan reservoirs of the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation (CHE) continue to shoot up (70%).
Despite the clear improvement in the situation over the last year, we still need a lot more water to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of this eternal drought. If the spring forecasts are met, the problem may not be completely solved, but a giant step will be taken.
