The coastline of Lloret de Mar, in an archive image. JOAN SÁNCHEZ
The tourism sector does not want to put the season at risk due to lack of water, and that is why it demands structural solutions to supply the Costa Brava.
While these do not arrive, the sector is thinking about temporary solutions to get through the season that starts in a matter of weeks as best it can.
For this reason and given the lack of rain, the tourism sector of Lloret de Mar (Girona) has come together to buy a mobile desalination plant to fill swimming pools and allocate the surplus to guarantee drinking water during the tourist season.
The hoteliers estimate that the machine will cost 1.5 million euros, have a capacity to treat 50,000 liters per hour and will be operational in May.
The measure, which the Government rejects, joins other initiatives by equally touristy municipalities on the Costa Brava.
Last year it was the Port de la Selva City Council that chose to rent a desalination plant, and the mayor of Roses also has in mind to promote the construction of a plant of this type.
Mayors and businessmen are upset by the lack of solutions from the Generalitat.
In the case of Lloret de Mar, the plant that the hoteliers want to launch will be located at one end of Platja Gran and will capture seawater directly from a natural well in the sand.
“The location of the desalination plant is temporary, but the plant is definitive,” said the president of the Lloret Hospitality Guild, Enric Dotras, who justifies the initiative: “If we don't do it, no one will.”
While waiting to know the project in detail, the Government recalls that in an Emergency situation the Special Drought Plan "does not contemplate that swimming pools can be filled with drinking water, regardless of where the water comes from."
The Chambers of Commerce assure that the Government has not done what was appropriate: “We are like this because unfortunately the necessary investments have not been carried out.”
The installation of the desalination plant will be carried out by the same Valencian company that brought another to Port de la Selva last summer to guarantee drinking water for the population.
It had a total cost of 900,000 euros.
Additionally, they received a million-dollar grant from the ACA to connect to the Darnius-Boadella swamp network.
In the midst of an emergency due to the drought, the tourism sector of Lloret de Mar has decided to go ahead to guarantee that the swimming pools of hotels, campsites, apartments and other accommodation are full this summer.
The 1.5 million euros that will be invested will come from the pockets of the establishments that are members of the union, which represents 95% of the tourist accommodation in the town.
In total, there are about 120 that add up to more than 40,000 places (30,000 in hotels, another 5,000 in campsites and the rest in tourist apartments).
“We have done calculations and we have divided it between the beds that each one adds to know what corresponds,” Dotras detailed.
They are clear that “paying for the plant is voluntary,” but they have calculated, says Dotras, that “80% of the members will be in favor and we hope to reach 100%.”
The sector estimates, according to its president, that less than 10,000 cubic meters will be needed to fill the pools.
He has detailed that “each cubic meter of desalinated water will be served to customers through tanker trucks.”
And individuals or companies may also benefit, such as the two water parks in the town.
In addition to what will be used to fill swimming pools, the surplus will ensure drinking water in Lloret de Mar. “The union buys it and we transfer it through an agreement to the City Council so that, once the corresponding ACA permits are available, and the Consortium, the water can also be used for the supply network,” he added.
Look for solutions
"We made this decision above all thinking about international markets, because if we do not move forward before they carry out all the deployment of their operations... we had to roll up our sleeves and look for solutions, and this was the one we found most agile," detailed Dotras, who has highlighted: “Those of us who work in the tourism sector cannot waste a single day.”
60% of the tourists who arrive in Lloret, the main tourist destination in Catalonia after Barcelona, do so through tour operators, who work in advance.
At the gates of Easter and the beginning of the season, many are "waiting" to see if they can be "guaranteed normality", which includes having one of the attractions that tourists seek, swimming pools.
The president of the Guild has confessed that some establishments – especially large chains – had considered delaying the opening or studying applying ERTEs while waiting for the evolution of the drought.
Regarding the option proposed by the Federation of Campings of Catalonia, of filling the pools with seawater, it points out that it is “complicated” because it requires a “very large investment” since the motor system must be changed or modified. the sewer network for when it needs to be emptied.
The Lloret Hospitality Guild intends that this model can be extended throughout the Costa Brava, and that it would even be an initiative of the administration.
In addition, they also ask for help to get the message out that “you can enjoy the swimming pools.”
From the Costa Brava Center, for the moment they have not even considered this system and they also doubt that it would work for them due to the type of establishments they have, which are much smaller.
This Thursday the presidents of the Girona Chambers of Commerce defended that they have done “their homework” in the face of the drought and have demanded that alarmism regarding water be avoided.
They consider that it is the Government who has not done what it was supposed to do: “The necessary investments have not been carried out,” insisted the president of the Girona Chamber, Jaume Fàbrega.
“The administration must be agile with investments, and not put bureaucratic obstacles for those who want to make them;
even giving tax incentives,” said the president of the Chamber of Palamós, Pol Fages.
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