United front against the Francoist law that regulates the extraction of bottled water in Catalonia

GironaIn an unprecedented alliance between environmentalists and government bodies, 22 municipalities in Montseny and the Llémena Valley, along with the Girona Provincial Council and the Vallès Oriental County Council, have approved a joint motion to regulate the bottled water industry. In Catalonia, companies in this sectorThese mines, concentrated mainly on the slopes of Montseny, the Guilleries mountains, and the Garrotxa volcanoes, extract and bottle thousands of liters of water daily from natural aquifers under regulations based on the Francoist mining law of 1973. These long-term extractions, without limits or clear controls, leave many springs and streams in the surrounding natural environment, especially during periods of drought, dry up or with very little flow. Therefore, the motion urges the Parliament of Catalonia to form a delegation of representatives from political groups tasked with promoting the amendment of the mining law in the Congress of Deputies. The objective of this unprecedented alliance is for deep aquifers to be recognized as a strategic natural resource and managed with transparency and ecological protection criteria, within the framework of European Union directives. The text was first promoted over a year ago by the Coordinator for the Safeguarding of Montseny, with the support of other entities such as Aigua es Vida (Water is Life), right after the critical moment of the severe drought. At that time, as spokesperson Carles Lumeras denounces, "the population began to suffer restrictions, while trucks loaded with bottled water continued to leave via the Arbúcies road."

A discrepancy in figures between environmentalists and the Catalan government

According to official 2023 data from the Catalan Department of Business and Labor, during the height of the drought, Catalan bottling companies extracted more than 1.792 billion liters of water from aquifers, generating a business volume of over 350 million euros. However, the Coordinator for the Safeguarding of Montseny disputes this figure: based on citizen-organized counts of trucks on the road, they assert that the four bottling plants in Arbúcies alone extract more than 5 million liters of water daily. "With the official data we've obtained after a year of struggle, it's impossible to extract clear water. The only piezometric detectors [which measure groundwater pressure or levels] in this area are those owned by the companies, not the Catalan Water Agency (ACA)," they stated.

Environmentalists have long been raising their voices against the bottling industry, but now, for the first time, mayors have also joined the common front. "Everything extracted from Sant Aniol affects the entire natural environment of Rocacorba," states Dolors Navarro, mayor of Sant Martí de Llémena, a small municipality at the foot of the Sant Aniol aquifer, who also highlights the local management of the risks associated with heavy water truck traffic. "We have managed to restrict truck access times. During school hours, buses go up to the school, and trucks are not allowed to go up or down," she explains.

The 22 town councils of Montseny-Guilleries and the Llémena Valley that have approved the motion promoted by the environmental entities are those of Arbúcies, Brull, Cardedeu, Cànoves and Samalús, Figaró-Montmany, Gualba, Hostalric, Les Fran Montseny, Riells and Viabrea, San Antonio de Vilamajor, San Pedro de Vilamajor, San Celoni, San Esteban de Palautordera, San Feliu de Buixalleu, San Gregorio, San Miguel de Campmajor, San Martín de Llémena, Santa María de Palautordera and Viladrau.

The sector defends that the law is already updated

In contrast, companies in the sector maintain that the regulations are already up-to-date with democratic legislation and that they comply with all European directives. "Our current regulations not only include the 1973 Mining Law, but also the 2010 Royal Decree that regulates bottled water as a food product and transposes European directives. Furthermore, the Parliament of Catalonia has also recently approved its own update, which we respect and with which we agree," says Xavier Civit (ACEA). Civit also insists that the authorization—not the concession, since Catalan bottling companies always operate on private, not public, land—from the Sub-Directorate of Mines is only granted in aquifers where water "flows in and out." "The authorization only allows extraction as long as a stable, agreed-upon flow is maintained, not until the resource is depleted, as happens in mining operations. We are the first to be interested in not depleting the aquifers," he concludes.