The Lord God, the tourists or politics – who is to blame for the lack of water in Catalonia? There has been a drought in north-eastern Spain for months. According to meteorologists, the past two years have been the driest since 1914, when records began. “We’ve had 32 months of drought,” said Catalonia’s regional president, Pere Aragonès, on Tuesday, citing water shortages as the top priority for his government. He is promising a package of measures, but he has been promising that for a while now and is unable to deliver it for political reasons related to missing majorities and impending local elections. He would probably prefer to just let it rain.
Meanwhile, people are trying to tackle the problem themselves. Farmers sow winter cereals instead of corn and vegetables during these weeks. This brings in less money, and the prices for many products that are less cultivated also increase. But at least the fields are not lying fallow. The water reservoirs are only 42 percent full this spring, compared to 73 percent at this time. In other years, the snowmelt helps. Only, there was hardly any snow this winter in the Pyrenees. The drought in the province of Barcelona is particularly serious. The reservoir levels there are 14 percent, while 78 percent would be normal.
And so the bishop of Solsona, a hundred kilometers further inland, recently turned directly to the Lord God and asked him for rain. About 500 believers came to his mass. Then, in a procession, they carried the figure of the Virgin of Torrents over the dusty paths. The prayers have not helped so far. Except for a brief thunderstorm this Thursday, the weather forecast remains with a relentless zero percent probability of precipitation.
When heaven can’t fix it, some people look for the culprits on earth: Tourists are the water wasters, they say from Barcelona, a city that groans under the masses of holidaymakers, even when there isn’t a drought. A current evaluation by the Barcelona Regional Urban Development Agency shows that hotels consume twelve percent of the available drinking water. A luxury tourist wastes five times as much water per day as a city dweller.
Now there is a debate about whether hotels in Catalonia will be allowed to fill their swimming pools this summer. Regional President Aragonès was initially against it and is now in favor of it: public outdoor pools and private pools that are used collectively should be allowed to fill up. For the benefit of heated tempers – and the tourism industry.
Data from the Catalan water agency ACA suggest where a reason for the water shortage should actually be sought: According to their surveys, around 24 percent of drinking water was lost in the drought year 2022. 1.34 billion hectoliters seeped away somewhere. The ACA sees the responsibility in the municipalities and their ailing water networks. The problem is not new, and yet many mayors prefer to look elsewhere. In the sky, for example, whether there isn’t a rain cloud to be seen.