In the 1970s, many people were drawn to the town of Vacarisses, near Barcelona. They dreamed of big houses gardens and pools to enjoy the well-deserved rest during the long and hot summer months.
But now this way of life is threatened by severe drought, forcing authorities to take increasingly stringent measures to conserve water. pool filling restriction
The law, which will take effect in the next few days, will prohibit residents of the northeastern region of Catalonia, including Vacarisses, from refilling empty pools. This condition occurs at the end of an abnormally warm spring, suggesting that the summer will be hotter or hotter than the previous one. The law will not apply to public swimming pools or hotels.
There is currently one swimming pool for every 37 people in Spain.Due to the lack of water and water, these facilities became the center of attention.
In Vacarisses, a sparse town of more than a dozen subdivisions overlooking the Montserrat mountain range, residents are gearing up for another tough summer after 2019. Last year, there was a 16-hour water outage., when the aquifers dry up. Mayor Antoni Masana describes the restriction on swimming pools as a “necessary measure” and emphasizes that the municipality is working to drill new wells.
“Because of climate change we are getting less and less rain and water. What we have to do is rethink, adapt our model to a (new) reality”, confirms Masana.
Catalonia is one of the driest regions in Spain, with some reservoirs only 7% capacity. According to the AEMET meteorological agency, this April was Spain’s hottest and driest month since records began in 1961.
Unfair “stigma”
Vacarisses is regionally renowned for its number of swimming pools. With a population of 7,000 people and more than 1,500 registered swimming poolsAlthough according to some views this number is not real, there is one for every five neighbors.
“If you go somewhere, people ask you where you’re from, and when you say Vacarisses they say, ‘Oh, the town with 30,000 swimming pools,’” says local resident Antonia León García. “It’s starting to get annoying.”
Although her pool has been empty for five years, Garcia, 61, since her children have grown up, says: people are unfairly stigmatized for pools.
Most of those in this town are rarely refilled, and if they do, water is usually brought in by trucks from outside the city, he says.
According to him, swimming pools are used as scapegoats due to the lack of a consistent water policy in Spain. Authorities should invest more desalination and treatment plants to complement aquifers and reservoirsThis is pointing to the neighbor.
A sentiment shared by Gonzalo Delacámara, director of the IE Center for Water and Climate Adaptation in Madrid. According to him, using water to fill ponds during drought is irresponsible. Most of Spain’s water resources are taken up by the agricultural sectorrepresents 70% of water use.
According to Delacámara, Spain lacks centralized water management policies that could encourage farmers to use more expensive desalinated water for irrigation, and decisions about water rates rest with local councils.
“It’s a system open to obscene changes in pre-election times, where all mayors promise cheaper water in the context of climate change and drought,” he adds.
Majorca, paradise of swimming pools
Moreover, On the island of Mallorca in the period 2015-2021, an average of 17 swimming pools were built per week, or 880 per year.According to a study by the environmental NGO Terraferida.
Macià Blázquez, professor of Geography at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), explains that the proliferation of swimming pools about the real estate boom in second homesmainly aimed at northern European citizens.
To curb this trend, Balearic government limits construction of new swimming pools in December in country houses, one per property and with a maximum volume of water.
In Catalonia, the new law makes an exception for public swimming pools or pools of hotels or large building complexes, after pressure from mayors. public swimming pools act exactly as “climate shelters” especially in a country that fears a sweltering summer.
Meanwhile, the Vacarisses continue to sell their suburban dream. “An ideal place to build your future,” says an ad showing a house with a pool, on a vacant lot near Garcia’s house.
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To contact From the environment department: [email protected]