Since 2018 and as a measure to face a probable drought and resource crisis, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, AMB and the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua, ACA, have achieved that 20% of drinking water is already regenerated.
The Barcelona metropolis uses more and more of the precious liquid from regeneration. This was confirmed by Eloi Badia, vice-president of the Ecology area of the AMB, and Samuel Reyes, director of the ACA.
Badia also recalled that the regeneration is now a reality after the work carried out over all these years.
It is very useful to convert the water into drinking water in order to benefit irrigation communities, increase the environmental flow and fight against seawater intrusion.
20% of drinking water is already reclaimed
An example of this great achievement can be seen in the Llobregat weir, located between Sant Vicenç dels Horts and Molins de Rei. At present, 600 liters of reclaimed water per second are discharged there, which increases the flow of the river by 25%. And in a short time it will be 800 liters.
In this way, and going from an alert situation to an exceptional situation, the infrastructure can discharge 2,000.
By following the riverbed, the water will be captured by the Sant Joan Despí drinking water treatment plant to adapt it to different uses.
The goal is that over the next five years, 120 million euros will be invested to increase the amount of recycled liquid.
The strategy will be continued along with the use of desalination plants that seek to take advantage of seawater.
There are several countries that have water resources, but in our case, said Reyes, this is not the case and efforts must be made to recycle more and more water.
ACA’s goals
For its part, the Agència Catalana de l’Aigua (Catalan Water Agency) plans to increase desalinated and reclaimed water production over the next six years.
They plan to expand the Tordera desalination plant and bring forward the construction of a plant on the Foix river.
As for the urban area, they will seek to “diversify sources”.
In this way, the two entities are making investments and planning for the metropolitan area, so that by 2050 there will be no drinking water deficit.
They expect to be able to meet this objective, although they stress that estimates may vary if the weather emergency continues to worsen.
The drought alert affected the initiative
The severe drought episode that affected the whole of Catalonia also had an impact on the delay of desalination and water reuse by about six months, which finally came into effect until the end of November last year in both Barcelona and the Metropolitan Area.
