2023-05-03 17:22:27
The Girona employers’ association FOEG held a day/debate on Thursday evening which aimed to resolve doubts of the Girona business sector and deal with their concerns about the impact of the drought, understood as one of the main problems in Catalonia right now.
The president of the FOEG employers’ association, Ernest Plana, welcomed the attendees explaining that “we cannot rely on the rainwhich does not depend on us, but we can take care of improving water management”.
In this sense, the Girona employers make their own the main conclusions on which the speakers agreed, such as for example the need toincrease the performance of infrastructures, reduce consumption and invest in water reuse. As well as being part of the solution in improving the efficiency of uses in the industrial, tourist and agricultural sectors. But above all in demanding that it be a transversal and national issue, with visions that transcend legislatures and political colors, and that involve all sectors; both public and private.
The manager of the Costa Brava Girona Water Consortium, who was also president of the ACA for six years and manager of the multi-municipal services company FISERSA for 14 years, took part in the debate. Jordi Agustí; the vice president of the Central Board of Baix Ter water users, Narcissus Island; el director de Catalan Water Partnership, Xavier Amores; or the industrial engineer and water consultant Joan Gaya.
Jordi Agustí focused the debate in response to the question of What should we do as a country? According to Agustí: “We must reflect, cooperate, agree and commit to this new paradigm. Until now there were two models, one focused on infrastructure to expand the supply, and another from 2000 aimed at protecting the water resource. This, however, is from the perspective of a wet Europe. Now there is also a drought in Europe, we need sustainable water management and rethink the way we plan, taking into account tomorrow’s climate, when there will not be enough water. So the only thing that can be done is to adapt and reduce consumption, reuse and tend to zero consumption especially in the industrial sector based on water reuse, and this is not a matter of just one ministry, it is a problem of Government, the administration, the hydraulic administration should be located administratively in a different way so that its action was more transversal.”
“Water is paid at a price much lower than what it is worth”
Joan Gaya showed different graphs on the evolution of the temperature in Catalonia, the precipitation or the flow of the reservoirs, to reach the conclusion that although it does not rain exceptionally less than in past decades, the abandonment of agricultural surfaces and their replacement by forests (which consume a lot of water), added to the thermal increase causes between 25 and 30% of the decrease in the influx of swamps which means that the flow of the reservoirs has gone from 20 to 10%”.
On the side, he added that: “When we talk about guaranteeing water, we are talking about the guarantee of quantity, quality and service. The true cost of water is the cost of the guarantee and it is paid much less than it is worth. For all this he has thrown a question / reflection: Why does the administration subsidize a scarce good?
Narcissus Island he said that: “We all claim the national pact for water, in my opinion the ACA has been mismanaged, thinking about drought plans and water restrictions, but no measures have been taken to anticipate these droughts.” He also explained that it would be necessary to “bet on a hydrologically connected country. It is not conceivable that there are villages without water despite having reservoirs nearby. Therefore, the water distribution network for human consumption should be radial.” He ended his speech by explaining that “If we all work together we will get out of this, the country is capable of producing the water we need but we need to have a state pact to know where we want to go.”
“Long-term planning is needed”
Xavier Amores he explained that “there is a key factor linked to demand management and supply management. We need to reflect on what incentives we give to the business sector to make investments. This is why I also believe that it is necessary to promote new country policies.” He also brought up the slowness of administrative and bureaucratic processes. “This would be a separate chapter, but it has a lot to do with the fact that certain investments or infrastructures cannot be developed.” Finally, he highlighted the need to reflect on “which investments are urgent, aside from priorities, to make in our country. Long-term planning is needed and investments cannot be stopped for any reason, let alone administrative”.
Xavier Soy, lawyer and secretary of the FOEG moderated the round table. The FOEG regretted that the Catalan Water Agency declined the invitation to participate in the conference.
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