Ships to transport water to Catalonia

By Mark Nolan 

The Vice-President of the Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, and the Councillor for Climate Action of the Generalitat de Catalunya, David Mascort, met in Barcelona to coordinate the work between both administrations that address the situation of emergency due to drought in Catalonia.

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At the meeting, two lines of action for financing and assistance that the Government of Spain makes available to face the current water crisis were specified. “Our position is clear: everything in our power is available to help other administrations, even beyond the powers of the central State,” motivated Vice President Teresa Ribera after the meeting.

As structural measures, they have announced financing for the development of the Tordera II and Foix desalination plants projects. The Government will provide credit transferred from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, with an investment of 467 million euro in total.

Regarding emergency measures, the Government will make available desalinated water from Sagunto, Valencia, which will be transported by boat to the city of Barcelona. It will make it possible to have desalinated water of up to 40,000 m3 per day starting in June, which will be determined according to need.

Vice President Ribera has announced that the Tordera II desalination plant will be located next to Tordera I, in the town of Blanes, and will be operational in 2028. The investment for this project is 287 million euro. It will treat 60 hm3 per year, which will allow the current desalination capacity of the current complex to be multiplied by four.

On the other hand, the investment for the new Foix desalination infrastructure is 180 million euro and will be located between the towns of Cunit and Cubelles. It will come into operation in 2029 with a treatment capacity of 20 hm3 per year. Both facilities will have photovoltaic installations for the energy consumption of their activities.

The projects will be developed by the public company Acuamed. “In the coming weeks I will bring to the Council of Ministers the modification of the Acuamed management agreement to be able to launch the projects,” announced Vice President Teresa Ribera.

These actions pursue a triple objective. Guarantee the water supply of the provinces of Girona, Tarragona and Barcelona; a progressive reduction of the transfer from the Ter to Barcelona; and finally reduce extractions from aquifers in poor ecological condition on the Catalan coast.

Spain is already the European leader in the production of desalinated water. Fourth place worldwide in installed capacity. In total, our country produces about 5 million cubic metres of treated water per day, a crucial system in supplying drinking water in situations of scarcity.

Given this strategy of anticipating the impacts of the drought of the Government of Spain, the objective is to double the capacity for desalination and water reuse as established in the current Third Cycle Hydrological Plans approved last legislature.

Up to two boats daily from Sagunto to Barcelona

After “an exhaustive evaluation of alternatives”, the ministry has determined as the “simplest and most viable” solution the transfer of water by boat from the Sagunto desalination plant, in the Valencian Community and owned by the state, to the port of Barcelona. This is what Vice President Teresa Ribera explained after the meeting.

Currently the plant operates at 10% of its capacity and may increase its activity for this emergency measure. “If the situation does not improve, the transfer will begin in June and may reach a maximum of 40,000 m3 of water transported in two ships per day,” Ribera said.

In the meeting between the vice president and the councillor, it was agreed that the cost of the increase in water treatment will be assumed by the central government, while the management operation with the ships will be assumed by the Generalitat of Catalonia.

As Ribera explained, this measure does not affect the community of origin since it does not supply water to its population. The vice president called the president of the Valencian Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, on Saturday to inform him of her proposal, which received the support of the leader of the autonomous government.

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