The Minister of Climate Action, Food, and Rural Agenda, David Mascort i Subiranas, and the Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of the Spanish Government, Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, met today in Barcelona with the objective of coordinating the work of both administrations in the face of the historic drought affecting Catalonia, leaving 6 million people in an emergency situation since February 1st.

One of the topics discussed at the meeting was the funding model for major water infrastructures that will address the water deficit in the Barcelona metropolitan area by 2030. This includes the expansion of the desalination plant ITAM Tordera (Tordera II) in Blanes, valued at €287 million, expected to be operational by 2028, and the construction of the desalination plant ITAM Foix in Cubelles, with a budget of €180 million, scheduled to start in 2029.

Both infrastructures were already included in the Government of Catalonia’s water management roadmap, the Water Management Plan for Internal Basins 2022-2027, endowed with €2.4 billion. It was in May 2023 when the Spanish government declared both infrastructures as emergency and priority actions for water supply to the Barcelona metropolitan region (Law 9/2023). Since then, collaboration with the Spanish government has been ongoing to find the funding model to realize these projects according to the planned timelines by the Government of Catalonia: Tordera II within the current management plan and Foix within the next plan, four years earlier than initially scheduled for 2033.

Regarding Tordera II, the Catalan and Spanish governments have agreed that its funding will come from European MMR funds (Mechanism for Recovery and Resilience) under the Ecological Transition line, as a credit from the Spanish government to the Government of Catalonia. Once operational, its nominal capacity will be 60 hm3 per year. The process is expected to start with the bidding for construction works in April 2024, and construction is set to begin in mid-2025.

Regarding the Foix desalination plant, its construction is expected to begin in the first half of 2026, with a nominal capacity of 30 hm3 per year (20 hm3 per year in the initial phase of operation).

During the meeting, Minister Ribera also informed Minister Mascort about the availability of desalinated water from the Sagunt desalination plant (Valencia) in case the measure of water transport by ship needs to be activated for the Barcelona metropolitan area. This infrastructure, with an annual production capacity of 8 hm3, is operating at 10% capacity, as its sole user, Oxigen de Sagunt, requires this volume for its operations. The operation does not impact the residents of Sagunt, as the desalination plant does not supply water to the municipality. The entire production of the infrastructure is allocated to this population through an agreement between ACUAMED and the City Council, with a concession in progress at CHJ. Although the municipality has the right awarded by this agreement, it does not use this volume as it does not divert a single cubic meter from the desalination plant.

The current pipeline to the port could transport a maximum of 7,200 m3/day, but with a new infrastructure, it could be increased to 20,000 m3/day. Once it leaves Sagunt, the water would reach the Port of Barcelona, where it would need to be unloaded via a pipeline to the reservoirs of Aigües de Barcelona.

For months, the Government of Catalonia has been preparing to address the emergency scenario activated on February 1st for the Ter-Llobregat System, as its reservoirs reached the threshold of 100 hm3, approximately 16% of their capacity.

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In addition to increasing aid from €90 to €200 million for local projects aimed at emergency works to improve network efficiency, the Government approved three agreements to better address the most severe restrictions in this emergency phase and ensure water availability: adjustments to the Drought Special Plan to allow tree irrigation as a climate refuge, filling of public sports pools, and watering of federated sports grass as long as the water is compensated; moratoriums on new urban, industrial, tourist, and service developments to avoid straining water demand, and the establishment of emergency environmental flows allowing an extension of reserves by 136 days for the Ter Llobregat system and 240 days for Darnius Boadella system. 

The arrival of ships with water is another measure that the Government has been working on for months. This is an exceptional and non-structural measure that would be activated in case of strict necessity to ensure the functioning of critical infrastructures in the Barcelona metropolitan area if the drought situation continues without significant changes. Currently, in addition to ensuring water availability through the Sagunt desalination plant, the Government is working on the adaptation of the infrastructure of the Port of Barcelona and locating ships for the transport of this water.