The municipal council will approve this Thursday a new ordinance that regulates the uses of drinking water and the restrictive measures that can be applied
Olot City Council wants to be prepared to deal with possible drought situations that affect the city’s water supply. For this reason, it has drawn up a municipal ordinance that establishes the rules that users of drinking water must follow and the penalties that can be imposed in case of non-compliance. This ordinance, which did not yet exist, will be debated and approved this Thursday at the municipal meeting.
A legal tool to apply the Drought Plan
According to the government team, this ordinance was essential to have a legal basis that would allow the population to demand the exceptional measures deriving from the Drought Plan, which was already approved a few months ago. “With the Drought Plan, we defined the phases and the indicators that mark us when we have to activate the restrictions, but we lacked an instrument that would give us legal certainty to decree and sanction them. This ordinance gives us the operational ability to do effective the Drought Plan in force in the city”, explains the Councilor for Urbanism of Olot, Jordi Güell.
What does the ordinance provide?
The municipal ordinance regulates the uses of drinking water and the measures that can be applied in drought situations declared by the Catalan Water Agency. Among these measures, there is the possibility of limiting or prohibiting activities such as filling or refilling private swimming pools, watering gardens or cleaning vehicles, among others. It is also possible to cut off the water service in the network if it is considered necessary. In addition, the ordinance also allows the City Council to request large consumers (more than 5,000 cubic meters of water per year) to present water saving plans or request data from the supply companies.
Sanctions
The most outstanding aspect of the new ordinance is that it gives the City Council the power to fine users who do not respect the measures established in the event of a drought. The document classifies infringements as minor, serious and very serious, with fines ranging from 750 euros to 3,000 euros. Check here for the different reasons why the City Council can fine you.
Olot has a water consumption below the established limit
Currently, Olot has a water consumption of 216 liters per inhabitant per day, lower than that which marks the phase of exceptionality in which the city is (230 liters per inhabitant per day). Even so, the City Council has decided to promote an ordinance that has also been approved in Besalú and will be promoted in other municipalities of Garrotxa.
