Josep Lluís Armenter: "The Besòs River will provide more than 10% of the metropolitan area's drinking water."

BarcelonaJosep Lluís Armenter took over as head of the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) in October, when reservoirs were at 28% of capacity and half the country was still subject to consumption restrictions. Now it's raining, and the reserves are at the best situation in the last three years and spring is expected to be bountiful.

Are we coming out of the drought tunnel?

— It's good news to have the reservoirs at 50% capacity, because it means at least the glass is half full. We're growing, unlike in 2022, when we had these reserves but were declining, and we have the whole spring ahead of us, with good predictions. But we don't have a crystal ball, and this makes us cautious when it comes to lifting restrictions. We've taken a step, but we still have a long way to go to achieve hydrological tranquility.

There are areas that could have been lifted from the alert, but they're still there. Is this a message to limit consumption?

— The public and all sectors have been exemplary. It's been a while since we last saw it, and we're also sending a message. opening a certain margin to avoid further stifling restrictions on the agricultural and industrial sectors. Fortunately, if we look at the statistics, it's not normal for February or March to see the rainfall we've had this year. Now that the usual rains are expected, we hope we can continue the easing of restrictions toward a normal situation. But the weather will tell us that.

What is the ideal setting for summer?

— Hopefully, the rains would continue, and we could arrive with a normal situation. A third rainy season would bring some peace and good reserves in the summer, and thus, we could increase them again in the fall. However, this hasn't happened in recent years, and we can't rely on it.

You said people have been exemplary. How much has consumption decreased?

— Barcelona is below 100 liters per person per day, which is the optimal consumption according to the WHO. In some cases, it has been reduced to 90. The habits and domestic consumption has dropped drastically compared to a few years ago. The average in Catalonia is 110, but in many places in Europe it's 300, and in the United States, 500.

The Government has said it will move forward with all pending waterworks projects, but they have been postponed in the past due to the return of the rains.

— We have a roadmap to boost regeneration and desalination and improve networks. We currently depend on reservoirs, rivers, and aquifers for 70% of our water needs. If there's a drought in 2030, these actions should be able to reverse the impact. We'll also have more efficient networks—those that bring water to homes—that are already depleted. We have a €130 million grant to improve the water efficiency of municipalities. Many don't perform exhaustive monitoring, and some networks are old and made of fiber cement, but with more than 800 renovation projects, leak detection campaigns that don't show on the surface, remote sensing, and audits in municipalities with more than 5,000 subscribers, we hope to reduce losses.

How much water can be saved like this?

— About 25 cubic hectometres per year, the equivalent of half of the El Prat desalination plant. According to 2024 data, approximately 7% of the unrecorded water corresponds to leaks, but there are also urban uses that are not accounted for because they are not billed, due to fraud, or because sub-metering over time does not capture all actual consumption. Aside from the drought, all of this has not been a priority for many municipalities. Some have yields below 60% or even lower. Aid should support these governments.

What is the status of the expansion of the Tordera desalination plant and the creation of the Foix desalination plant?

— There's news. On Tuesday, an agreement was signed between the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the public company Acuamed to tender the project and its execution.expansion of TorderaThis will be very important because we will be able to increase desalination capacity by 60 cubic hectometers. It follows a parallel process to that of Foix, with an additional 30 cubic hectometers. And by 2032, the Alt Empordà desalination plant project will be implemented. This is a severely affected area, dependent on aquifers and the Darnius-Boadella reservoir, and with high tourist and agricultural demand.

And is the energy to power these infrastructures guaranteed?

— This is part of a parallel process within the project, and we are working in coordination with the General Directorate of Energy to ensure that the project is completed on time and has a power supply capable of powering the entire system. This is no small matter: if we had the Tordera expansion now, it would only be able to operate at a third of its maximum capacity.

Is desalination still operating at full capacity?

— Yes. Desalination plants have contributed 200 cubic hectometres to the system since 2021. This is twice the size of the Baells reservoir, one of the largest. But we've already been able to de-escalate its use because we have more natural resources, and the machines must be able to be stopped for inspections. Furthermore, the energy consumption of desalination is three times that of drinking water. The most expensive water is the one we don't have, and these plants should be a supplement in case of emergency; we must have them if necessary. The El Prat plant wasn't supposed to be operating continuously until August 2022. I don't think it would be good practice to have it operating at 100% if we have the natural resource guaranteed.

Could you update the status of the major project planned in Besòs?

— The Besòs River must be a significant contributor to the water supply system, as it was at the end of the 19th century. With the construction of wells in the Llobregat region and the Sant Joan Despí treatment plant, all of this was diverted to the Llobregat River, but now we're returning to the Besòs River, which for decades has been an open sewer. So much so that Barcelona was exploiting wells until the mid-1980s, when contamination reached both surface and groundwater. It wasn't until new, advanced treatment technologies became available that this water could be recovered.

What more immediate plans are underway?

— The Besòs River has the potential to be further exploited, and the infrastructure is now being expanded with additional intakes, the restoration of the Comtal irrigation ditch, and the use of surface water. This is a first: there is a pilot plant on the industrial scale to produce 200 liters per second of treated water from surface water, which will become a reality this year.

Will we end up drinking the water from the Besòs?

— Yes. It's a very advanced project, almost 70% complete, and will provide 600 liters per second more than it currently provides, i.e., more than 10% of the drinking water consumed by the Barcelona metropolitan area. It will be a significant resource, given its capacity of 800 liters per second. It currently provides 200, but will quadruple its contribution.

Groundwater is contaminated, in some cases, by nitrates from slurry. The EU has already sounded the alarm. Is there a plan to reverse this?

— There are affected areas, and environmental monitoring is being carried out with inspections and support for companies to determine what to do to decontaminate them. There are also the livestock manure plans hanging over the Department of Agriculture. But these issues aren't just linked to farms or livestock activities, but also to gas stations due to leaks of benzene derivatives.

The College of Engineers has put on the table on several occasions the interconnection by treat the water networks of Catalonia as one.

— This government is committed to regeneration, resilience, and efficiency. All our actions must provide robustness for better utilization, and the possibility of a water transfer or grid interconnection has not come into play. There is a timeline we must follow.

On the other side of the drought coin is the risk of flooding. Have the areas included in preferential flow zones, where evacuations are practically impossible, grown?

— Since 2010, the ACA has been developing the European Flood Risk Management Directive, and we're now updating risk zones, maps, and corrective measures. Based on the DANA (National Flood Assessment), we're trying to accelerate action, not just looking at individual stretches of the river, but at the surrounding activities. Some areas are vulnerable, such as campsites, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes. We're also closely coordinated with the Ebro River Basin Authority (EBR) because it manages 50% of the territory, and, for example, 90% of the campsites in the preferential flow zone are in the Noguera, Segre, and Vall d'Aran areas.

Do you know how many schools, hospitals, and nursing homes exist in flood-risk areas?

— We will have this data this year.

The new Ebro hospital has no land to be located because those assigned twenty years ago are in flood zones. Do you know of any other cases that could be stopped?

— We've received several requests from city councils to review important infrastructure, and we're already doing so, because it's not just the urban planning or tourism report, if applicable, or the education report, if it's a school. We were already rigorous before, but DANA has increased our sensitivity.