Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), reiterated this Monday on TV3 that it is prohibited for the hotel sector to buy water to fill swimming pools regardless of its origin.
“The origin does not matter, unless it comes from the sea,” stated Reyes.
Sources from the ACA assure this newspaper that it is not a new measure and that it was already announced two years ago, when Catalonia first activated the alert due to the serious drought.
The hotels had studied the possibility of bringing water from France and even acquiring it from companies dedicated to the transportation and supply of the liquid in Catalonia.
However, the ACA has categorically ruled out this possibility: "It doesn't matter if it comes from France, Bilbao or Japan, if it is not seawater, the pool cannot be filled," the entity details.
The measure came into force in November 2022, when Catalonia decreed the first scenario of the Special Drought Plan (PES) to address the water crisis, according to the ACA.
In the current emergency phase, activated since last February 1 in 239 municipalities - 80% of the population of Catalonia - the total or partial filling of any type of swimming pool (public, private or community) is prohibited and only can do if they have a recirculation system and to guarantee health quality, as must be done by centers that are registered in the Generalitat's sports equipment and present a compensation plan;
or hospitals and residences.
If it is a pool with salt water, it can be filled as long as it is not connected to the supply network.
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Reyes has opened the possibility of “making the restrictions more flexible” for farmers and ranchers, in order to seek better working conditions, although he has stressed that each case must be studied.
The PSC spokesperson, Èlia Tortolero, also asked this Monday that the limits to the agricultural sector be agreed upon after they agreed to review them last Thursday.
“It is necessary to listen to this strategic, necessary and relevant sector in Catalonia.
Listen to them and not give them lessons,” Tortolero said in a press conference at the PSC headquarters.
In the current emergency scenario, agriculture must restrict water consumption by 80% and livestock farming by 50%.
Farmers not only demand a softening of anti-drought measures with their mobilizations, but also a reduction in bureaucratic procedures and a streamlining of aid payments to be able to face inflation in production costs.
The agricultural mobilizations occur after last January became the third warmest start to the year in Catalonia so far this century, marking 2.1 degrees warmer compared to last year.
The rains have also been below the usual values for the time of year, although in Lleida there was more abundant rainfall due to the presence of Storm Irene.
The serious drought that the community has been going through for 40 months is leading administrations and entities to activate prevention measures to guarantee the supply of drinking water to the population and the correct functioning of infrastructures that, like the Besòs, provide large amounts of water. water resources.
In fact, Aiguas de Barcelona (Agbar) and the Mossos d'Esquadra have agreed this Monday to promote a security plan for water plants in times of drought with the aim of preventing copper thefts, mainly in treatment plants.
In the statement issued, Agbar explained that the theft of this material would cause these facilities to stop working.
“It would imply aggravating the drought situation because it would affect the production of regenerated water,” they point out in the statement.
Currently, 1,500 liters per second of regenerated water are pumped from the Water Regeneration Station (ERA) of the Baix Llobregat treatment plant to Molins de Rei, to be poured into the river and captured again eight kilometers downstream in the Sant Joan Despí water treatment plant. (Barcelona), where it is treated and distributed to almost three million people.
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