The rains that have fallen in recent weeks are still insufficient to compensate for the severe drought that has endured in much of Catalonia due to the extraordinarily dry summer and autumn. in total 514 Catalan municipalities in 27 districts are already on drought alert, including the Barcelona metropolitan area, where 6.7 million people live and thus 80% of the Catalan population.As reported by the Generalitat.
Generalitat President Pere Aragonès chaired the Interdepartmental Drought Commission this Tuesday amid the worsening situation in Catalonia with months of heavy rain and no rain.The marshes of the inner basins are at their lowest level since 2007, at 34% of their capacity.
The committee addressed the situation and highlighted the status of the Ter-Llobrega system, which supplies water to the largest population in Catalonia, and the Darnius Boadella reservoir, which will be on alert this week, bringing the total number of municipalities affected. Water scarcity.
This was the second meeting of the Interdepartmental Drought Commission after the first meeting in early August, confirming the plight of the Ter Llobregat system and the Ter Llobregat system at 34% (207 hm³) and water reserves that continue to decline. In 33% (20 hm³) of Darnius Boadella.
After the meeting, the government authorized the director of the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) to sign the resolution announcing the warning in the Ter-Llobregat and Darnius Doadella system; this is a warning that will go into effect when the decision is published in the Official Gazette. The Generalitat of Catalonia (DOGC) newspaper is scheduled to be published at the weekend.
Currently, without restriction for domestic consumption
The alert state is not yet considering reducing the consumption of drinking water or domestic water, however, it implements a reduction in consumption in agriculture, livestock, industrial and recreational uses, such as banning the filling of swimming pools. and we recommend reducing watering of gardens and plants.
The Catalan Drought Plan, a tool for managing periods of water scarcity, has been activated since October 2021.
Since then, ACA has been analyzing the condition of inland basins on a monthly basis based on the main source of supply (reservoirs, aquifers or precipitation).
In the Ter Llobregat region, which has entered the pre-alarm scenario since February this year, measures have been implemented for 9 months.such as the increase (from 20% to 90%) in the production of desalination plants that contribute more than 54 hm3 to the system.
According to the ACA, this prevented the reservoirs’ current volumes from being under seven points (Without desalinated water, the Ter Llobregat system today would be close to the threshold of extraordinary.).
In addition to desalination, in the pre-warning phase Recovered water production has been increased, enabling the supply of 2,000 liters of water per second in the last section of the Llobregat river to guarantee ecological flow.
During the warning phase, some of this recovered water (900 liters per second) is expected to be used for agricultural irrigation from the canal to the right of Llobregat, while the remaining 1,100 liters is expected to be used to guarantee ecological flow.
Source: Informacion
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