Only 3% of the planet's water is fresh... and almost all of it is in the form of ice.

This country is full of chapels filled with dust and cobwebs, a haven for mice. Some are open only one day a year, for their feast day. And some are not open at all. It's fine for empty chapels to have a use. And if it's not a religious use, then it's fine.

The Can Font chapel in Manresa has been adapted to allow you to "see" a projection on the water. I say "see," but I also need to say "hear," because sound is essential. I recommend you go, and what I suggest is that during the projection have your eyes closed and try to guess what each sound corresponds to: ocean waves breaking on the sand, a storm, drizzle, a waterfall, a sprinkler... (and many more than I mentioned, just in case).

This activity is part of the offerings at the farmhouse right next door. Its name is fitting for its intended purpose: Can Font. It is dedicated to spreading water culture. Workshops are held for schools and families. A host of water-related topics are covered: purification, the water cycle, the distribution of water around the world, and water use in rural areas, among others.

Outside Can Font, there's already a water-related element: a water wheel from an industrial carpentry shop.

I visit the various rooms of the farmhouse with Krishna Sivillà, head of the Can Font Water Center. There's a fairly large laboratory where a host of experiments are conducted. But what most catches my eye is a set of drums made from water pipes.

On the ground floor, there's an interesting exhibit. I spend a good while reviewing the data it provides. I read, for example, that 97% of the planet's total water is salt water. Yes, that's the water in the seas and oceans. Therefore, only 3% of the planet's water is fresh water. Furthermore, most of the fresh water is stored in the form of ice.

Also of interest is what it says about water consumption in Catalonia according to housing type. In a compacted building, 120 liters per person per day are consumed; in a semi-compacted building, 150. liters per person per day, and in a single-family building, 200 liters per person per day.

Can Font is located just a stone's throw from Manresa's New Reservoirs, built just twenty years after the Old Reservoirs. Yes, yes: the old ones were built in the 1960s, and the new ones were built in the 1980s. Manresa grew suddenly and needed a good supply of water!

"And are both still working?" I ask Krishna. "The New Tanks, yes. They're located at the Manresa water treatment plant, and they're still in use. They're where the water ends up once it's been treated, before it's sent to the homes. As for the Old Tanks, they supplied water to the lower parts of the city until 1980, what is now the Water and Textile Museum."

Krishna tells me this as we drive along – in a car; it's not far away.– in the large open-air water reservoir in the so-called Parc de l'Agulla. The Acequia, the medieval canal that carries water from the Llobregat River to Manresa, flows into this reservoir. "You know that along the entire route of the Acequia [26 kilometers] There is only a 10-meter gradient, that is, a minimum slope of 0.04%?" he tells me. the Krishna"And this irrigation channel carries about 1,000 liters per second to Manresa?" he asks when we arrive at this park. Manresa is at our feet, and Montserrat is in the background.

Suddenly, Krishna jumps back more than 60 years and begins to tell me about the great snowfall of Christmas 1962. I'm curious to know what this has to do with what we're talking about. I quickly satisfy her. "That intense snowfall left the Acequia clogged with ice and snow. Manresa was suffering from a lack of water. This was the trigger that led to the creation of the large water reservoir in the Parque de l'Agulla, which came into operation in 1974. Furthermore, no park was built around the lake, basically to protect its water.

"This reserve gives a week's notice if the Acequia needs to be shut down for work or in case of incidents," Krishna tells me. He's also the head of InfoSéquia, the visitor center located in Parc de l'Agulla. Regarding heritage dissemination, we've learned a lot, and there are facilities that are on par with others in Europe. This is the case with InfoSéquia.

As I leave, I notice a grey heron waiting for a fish to pass by in order to catch it in an area where there are many aquatic plants, which feed, through their roots, on organic matter that makes them grow while helping to purify the water.