A solution for drought
The Government of the Generalitat is taking measures to deal with the drought situation affecting Barcelona. If it doesn’t rain this spring and the situation gets even worse, water will be brought from Tarragona to Barcelona. This decision has been taken after considering several possibilities, since initially it was considered to bring water from the Ebro River, but work is being done on another alternative
The situation of the basins
Currently, the Ebro basin is at 80% of its capacity, while the Ter-Llobregat basin is in a dramatic situation, with only 15.6% of its capacity At the beginning of February, the Barcelona basin entered a drought emergency situation. Faced with this situation, the Catalan government is looking for alternatives to guarantee water supply in Barcelona.
Extraction of water from wells
One of the possibilities that is being considered is to extract water from several wells located in Camp de Tarragona. According to the digital El Confidencial, these wells are managed by EMATSA and it is estimated that 1.2 million cubic meters of water are extracted every year. The ERC government considers that this extraction of water would not affect the basin of the ‘Hebrew
The cost of the solution
In the event that the drought situation does not improve, the Catalan government’s forecast is that two ships loaded with water will arrive in Barcelona every day. According to El Confidencial, the cost of this operation would be 700,000 euros per day, that is, 21 million euros per month
A political decision
This decision to bring water from Tarragona to Barcelona also has a political impact. According to El Confidencial, the councilor for Climate Action, David Mascort, would divert part of the political responsibility for the decision to the Catalan socialists
conclusion
In short, faced with the drought situation affecting Barcelona, the Government of the Generalitat is looking for alternatives to guarantee the supply of water to the city. One of the possibilities is to bring water from Tarragona, extracting it from the wells found in Camp de Tarragona. This decision has a political impact and a considerable economic cost. If the drought situation does not improve, two ships loaded with water are expected to arrive in Barcelona every day
