Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

CATALONIA

EXPLAINED: What and where are the drought water restrictions in Catalonia?

Catalonia's emergency drought plan involves a whole series of water restrictions which will affect 6 million from Friday February 2nd, many in Barcelona. The following drought map and rules breakdown explains in detail.

Published: 2 February 2024 10:27 CET
EXPLAINED: What and where are the drought water restrictions in Catalonia?
These are the municipalities on drought emergency level in Catalonia and the restrictions that will apply. Photo: Lluis Gené/AFP

After three years without any significant rainfall, Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region declared a drought emergency on Thursday. Water restrictions will now affect Barcelona and 201 other municipalities in the region in total, over 6 million people and almost 80 percent of the Catalan population.

Pere Aragonès, head of the Catalan regional government, declared the drought after reservoirs in the north-eastern region fell below 16 percent of their capacity, the benchmark set by authorities for the implementation of water-saving measures.

The drought plans extend restrictions on the use of water for citizens, administrations, and industry in Barcelona and practically the entire Barcelona province.

READ ALSO: Barcelona enters drought emergency with tighter water restrictions

Under the current plans residential taps in Barcelona will not be affected yet.

However, in the worst-case scenario, if it does not rain, restrictions would reach taps in capital in the summer, when the city tends to consume the most drinking water, over 170 litres per person, according to data from last year.

The following map we’ve created shows the 200+ municipalities that have entered the emergency drought level (in red) and where the restrictions we’ve listed below will apply. You can hover over the map and zoom to look at specific municipalities.

These restrictions are not advisory, and fines of up to €3000 can be levied for those who disobey them and are “uncivic” with their water use in a way that undermines the Generalitat's Special Drought Plan. These include washing the car, watering the garden or filling the swimming pool with drinking water. In these three cases the fines are €30, €50 and up to €200 respectively.

Other offences are classified as minor can warrant fines of up €750, serious up to €1,500, and very serious between €1,501 and €3,000.

Here’s what you need to know about the restrictions in place.

Water pressure cuts

Municipalities that use 200 litres of water per inhabitant per day are the first to suffer water restrictions in residential homes. However, these restrictions do not mean total supply cuts, but rather a reduction in water pressure when the usual night-time pressure will be applied during daylight hours.

The first three municipalities where the restrictions will reach domestic taps are Corbera de Llobregat, Cervelló and La Palma de Cervelló. These three municipalities around Barcelona have a total population of 28,000 inhabitants but have the highest water consumption in the Barcelona area: between 262 and 282 litres per person per day in November. However, this record consumption is largely due to water losses in the outdated supply network.

Car washing bans

Cleaning of any type of vehicle is prohibited, except in specific commercial establishments that use water recirculation.

Street cleaning

Street cleaning with drinking water, such as water used for street sweeping, sewer cleaning, pavements, facades or similar, whether public or private, is prohibited. The only exceptions are cleaning after an accident, a fire or if there is a risk to health or traffic. Municipalities may use reclaimed water or water from underground reservoirs and groundwater. Cleaning windows and windowsills with a bucket and sponge is allowed.

Watering of green areas and gardens (public and private)

Watering gardens and green areas, whether public or private, is also prohibited. The exceptions are the watering trees for survival or botanical gardens if it is done with regenerated or phreatic water. Any watering must be done at "low sunshine" hours.

READ ALSO: 'Hard to live like this in 2024' - How drought is affecting Catalonia

Fountains

It is also forbidden to fill or partially fill ornamental fountains, artificial lakes or any other aesthetic use for water. Only refuges for endangered fauna or for the recovery of species are acceptable, with the minimum water required.

No ice rinks or recreational use of water

Similarly, the use of water for recreational events, whether public or private, with water that can be consumed by the public is prohibited, so ice rinks, foam parties and water games more generally are all banned.

Swimming pools

It is forbidden to fill all or part of any type of swimming pool, whether public or private. Refilling is only permitted using the amount of water necessary to guarantee sanitary quality and with water recirculation systems in the indoor pools of the Generalitat's facilities, provided that they apply measures to save the water used for refilling in the showers.

Outdoor pools may also be refilled, but the showers must be closed to compensate for the water used. It will also be possible to refill therapeutic pools in public facilities and pools that use seawater as long as they are not connected to the sewage system. Campsites have asked to be able to use seawater.

No showers on beaches

The use of showers on beaches is also banned, though this had been the case in many municipalities since last summer.

Economic and agricultural activities

In this emergency phase, agricultural irrigation is reduced by 80 percent, agricultural water use by 50 percent, and industrial use by 25 percent.

Moratorium on new economic activities

The plan also includes a moratorium on the authorisation of new water-intensive economic activities, such as new farms or extensions to existing ones, industries or tourist activities and new urban planning.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

DROUGHT

Will drought restrictions affect summer holidays in Spain?

Whether it be limits on swimming pools, street cleaning or even daily water consumptions limits, several parts of Spain are considering their drought restrictions ahead of the summer season.

Published: 8 May 2024 12:27 CEST
Will drought restrictions affect summer holidays in Spain?

Many parts of Spain have been suffering from ongoing droughts for the better part of the last three years. The situation has been particularly bad in Catalonia and Andalusia, as well as parts of the Canary Island of Tenerife.

This past winter, reservoir levels in Barcelona fell to just 16 percent and the region declared a drought emergency in February 2024. This was the lowest level that had ever been recorded. Water restrictions were put in place, affecting Barcelona and 201 other municipalities in the region in total, over 6 million people and almost 80 percent of the Catalan population.

In Andalusia, at the start of the year, reservoir levels had plunged to an average of just 20 percent capacity and restrictions were put in place there too.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What and where are the drought water restrictions in Catalonia?

As well as agriculture and industry, water restrictions also have the potential to affect holidaymakers in Spain this summer because the rules mainly affected those with private swimming pools and gardens, although in many areas, particularly in and around Barcelona, personal usage was limited to 200 litres per day.

Typically, spring is the rainiest time in Spain and everyone was hoping for a return to normal conditions. Luckily there has been rainfall over the past few months and reservoir levels have risen slightly. 

The Ter-Llobregat Reservoir, which serves nearly six million people in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and part of Girona, is now up to 25 percent and heavy rains in Andalusia meant the levels there have risen to an average of 30 percent capacity.

Because of this, on Tuesday May 7th Catalonia announced that it would loosen restrictions and lift the state of emergency. The personal limits have risen to 230 litres per person per day and the agriculture, livestock and industry sectors will have a little more water for their needs.

Patrícia Plaja, spokesperson for the Government of Catalonia said: “The increase in reserves allows the restrictions of the last three months to be lifted and for us to exit the emergency phase,” however she also warned that “the drought is not over.”

The levels are still very low and although Spain’s regions are no longer at the highest level of drought emergency, they are still experiencing drought and some restrictions are still in place and likely will in some form over the summer.

Various measures have been put in place over the last few months to try and help rectify the situation. Barcelona announced it would fight the drought with a floating desalination plant and dictated that hotel swimming pools should be open to the general public. 12 desalination plants are also slated to be installed on the Costa Brava.

Though the situation has definitely improved ahead of the long dry summer months, tourists still need to be aware of the situation.

People spend the day at the WaterWorld aquatic park, in Lloret de Mar, Catalonia. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)

Will drought restrictions affect summer holidays in Spain?

Though the signs are cautiously optimistic following the rainy Easter period, drought restrictions in some parts of the country could still affect summer holidays in Spain.

Public and private community pools can now be topped up once again in Catalonia, but cannot be completely refilled if they were completely empty. Single use private pools are prohibited from both being refilled completely and topped up.

This means that if you’ve rented a private villa in the region that advertises a pool, you may want to check if it will be filled or not as chances are if it has to be re-filled, it may not be possible.

Cleaning streets and watering grass in public and private gardens with drinking water remains prohibited. This may mean that parks and gardens will appear browner and dryer than usual and streets may be dirtier (and slightly smellier than usual). Cars can only be washed at specialised establishments, you cannot wash them yourself.

Local government in Tenerife recently declared a state of emergency due to the critical water situation on the island. There are restrictions in place in several areas of the island, though it seems the brunt of water restrictions are focused on irrigation systems used in the agricultural sector for now.

Water authorities in the Valencia region, however, have indicated that no urban water restrictions are expected to be necessary this summer nor at any point this year, except in small municipalities in inland Castellón.

Andalusia’s Minister of Sustainability and Environment, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, announced on Tuesday that “the filling of swimming pools will be allowed” in Málaga province this summer, something that was until recently unclear due to the ongoing restrictions.

Owing to the Easter rains and subsequent refilling of the region’s reservoirs, the Junta gave the green light to the filling of pools throughout Málaga province, including the Axarquia area, one of the hardest hit by drought conditions. Until now, the filling of community pools was allowed, but has now been extended to pools in neighbouring urbanisations and private homes, something many tourists will be thankful for this summer.

However, there are still some municipalities in which water consumption per person per day is still restricted to 180, 200 or 225 litres depending on the area and the local rules.

“The amount of water is being maintained… it would be another matter if we had a May in which it rained a lot, but at the moment it doesn’t look like that is going to happen,” said Fernández-Pacheco.

In Cádiz and Almería, locals are still waiting to see if the restrictions will also be eased further ahead of summer. Regarding swimming pools, Fernández-Pacheco pointed out that this latest decision concerns the rules in Málaga only. “The Junta will study area by area,” he said.

This means that summer rules remain up in the air until the region’s drought committees meet again. The next meeting is scheduled for sometime in May.

However, if developments in Catalonia and Málaga are anything to go by, some restrictions, particularly on pools, could be lifted following the recent rains but daily per person consumption limits could remain in place.

Though it seems likely that some restrictions could be eased ahead of the busy summer season, the affected regions, which are also often popular tourist destinations, are still at risk of drought regardless of short-term rainfall.

SHOW COMMENTS