The government of Salvador Illa begins by announcing a set of public works aimed at strengthening the water supply in times of drought in Catalonia. The Catalan Executive has included in its projects a new desalination plant for the northern area of the Costa Brava, as well as the acceleration of improvements to water treatment plants and other hydraulic infrastructures. All this with an investment of 2,000 million euros, half of which corresponds to projects designed during the previous mandate.
The spokesperson for the new government, Sílvia Paneque, who is also Minister of Territory and in charge of the Environment and Water Management, was responsible for detailing the measures. It was she, while a PSC MP, who became one of the scourges of the ERC government during the last years of drought in Catalonia, which she accused of not investing enough in infrastructure.
With reservoirs at 31% – again down since they reached almost 40% with the spring rains – Paneque has drawn up what he considers “a road map” with a view to 2040 to make Catalonia less dependent on rain and more on its resources. is able to generate. “The objective is to separate rainfall from the water management cycle,” he said at the press conference following the Executive Council on Tuesday.
“By the end of 2027, we will be able to guarantee 70% of total water consumption with our own resources,” Paneque pledged. To achieve this, the two main assets of his department have so far been the Foix and Tordera II desalination plants, which will add around 80 hm3 to the system. Both works, whose initial procedures have already been agreed between the Executive of Father Aragonès and the central Government, will be accelerated as much as possible, Paneque indicated. According to the socialists, the tender agreement for the first will be signed next September.
As for the new desalination plant, intended to supply the north of the Costra Brava, no specific location has yet been proposed. It is expected that with an investment of 200 million euros – which the Generalitat will try to get the government to assume – it will generate around 15 hm3 of drinking water for one of the regions of Catalonia most affected by the lack of rainfall. Today, the Alt Empordà region is practically the only one still in a situation of emergency due to the drought, with its reservoir, the Darnius-Boadella, operating at 12% of its capacity.
The councilor and spokesperson avoided during her appearance some of the hot potatoes that the previous executive had left her in terms of water, such as the collection of sanctions from municipalities that do not comply with the maximum consumption, a process that is now frozen, or the installation of the portable desalination plant in the port of Barcelona. According to Paneque, these issues, more focused on the short term, were not addressed at the government meeting, and the connection of the Ebro with the metropolitan area of Barcelona, excluded by ERC, was not implemented either. the table.
The list of other hydraulic works detailed by Paneque is exhaustive and also includes many works already planned and even approved. These include, for example, the works to improve the water treatment plants of the Ter River, already launched in tender, and Abrera. In the latter, the commitment is to start the works in 2026.
The other big challenge is to increase the consumption of water from the Besòs, historically contaminated when it reaches Barcelona, before flowing into the sea. The public company Aigües Ter-Llobregat has planned a water treatment plant in the town of Montcada i Reixach worth 60 million, in addition to studying another in Bon Pastor. But one of the most curious developments will be the diversion of water from Besòs to Llobregat, on the other side of the Catalan capital, to take better advantage of the regeneration capacities installed in the latter. Thus, it is planned to pump between 250 and 500 liters per second before the Besòs treatment plant is commissioned in 2033.
Paneque also explained that the Government is already working on the 2025 budgets with the aim of approving them on January 1. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, has already started the procedures to establish the accounts. “He has already maintained the first contacts with the privileged partners of the Government, the ERC and the municipalities, to begin the work so that the parliamentary process can begin at the beginning of November,” he expressed.
