Tanker Dutch Spirit in Port of Bermeo this Thursday. CONSORCIO DE AGUAS BILBAO BIZKAIA (CONSORCIO DE AGUAS BILBAO BIZKAI)
The Dutch Spirit
tanker ,
from the Bilbao Bizkaia Water Consortium (CABB), began supplying water to the Busturialdea region from the port of Bermeo this morning to supply 16 of its municipalities.
The suffocating heat of recent months has aggravated the drought and has led the authorities of these towns to close taps, irrigation systems and showers in public areas and to reduce the power of the water during the early hours, from twelve at night until six in the morning. the morning.
The ship will introduce the water into the system through the pumping network that has been built specifically for this operation.
The ship, which will be in operation for the next two months, will return every 40 hours to the Bilbao port of Santurtzi to refuel and re-supply water from Bermeo.
The first journey between ports will take place this Thursday at five in the afternoon.
More information
The Busturialdea region awaits the arrival of a freighter to alleviate the water shortage: "We can't even flush the toilet at night"
The consortium has justified this measure to "guarantee the supply to the population in the summer months and protect the ecological flows of the rivers" after the region reached emergency level 3 on August 5 due to low water reserves.
The water reservoirs in the province of Biscay are around 70% full, however, the Busturialdea region is not fed by these reserves, but rather had, until this January, independent regulation until the CABB took over the management .
The riverbeds that supply the area are at minimum levels and around 45,000 people in the area have been affected by restrictions on the use of water.
The Consortium emphasizes that this measure is "temporary" and that the definitive solution involves incorporating Busturialdea into the network that supplies the rest of Bizkaia, the Zadorra reservoir system.
This water reserve, the largest in the entire Basque Country, provides fresh water to a large part of the region.
01:54
Water boat in Bermeo
The tanker, with the capacity to transport four million liters of water, will provide two million a day to the Busturialdea network, about 23 liters every second, as reported by the CABB.
However, these forecasts will depend on the amount of water left by the rains in the region during the period in which the ship is operational.
The 16 towns to which the water from the
Dutch Spirit
will reach are: Ajangiz, Arratzu, Bermeo, Busturia, Ea, Elantxobe, Gernika-Lumo, Forua, Gautegiz-Arteaga, Ibarrangelua, Kortezubi, Mendata, Mundaka, Murueta, Muxika and Pedernales.