These recent weeks I have been hearing our leaders, and politicians in general, talking constantly about the drought and this, far from reassuring me - because a few delusional people may think that awareness has now been raised about the issue - worries me. It means that the issue is much more alarming than they are saying and that it has taken them by surprise, distracted as they are in matters that may have greater informational appeal. Because, in the end, out there in what we call "the territory", there are always those who think that, in the end, there aren't that many votes to be won either and they don't wake up until the problem is entering down the Diagonal and the Meridiana. Perhaps, we are already at that point and they have seen that they are reacting late. That the warnings that were given to them for years by sectors with interests often as diverse as farming - that is to say, the raising of both crops and animals - professional associations and employers' groups, the Union of Farmers and Agbar, the reference company in the integral management of the water cycle and the environment, and all those predictions, which were all so cheerfully disdained, have already materialized while the measures are still pending approval.
Because no-one with knowledge of the issue can possibly think that the decree against the drought validated this Wednesday in the Catalan Parliament to be processed as a bill, with only the 33 votes of the Catalan Republican Left and one other, from the non-assigned ex-Vox deputy, is an appropriate response to the problem posed. The 79 votes of the deputies who abstained - PSC, Junts, En Comú Podem and the CUP - must serve to improve the decree and give a realistic response to the current grave situation. In all probability, if it hadn't been for the fact that at the end of the month the summit against the drought has been called at the Palau de la Generalitat, the decree would have been rejected by PSC and Junts, fundamentally for two reasons: the primacy of the sanctions regime and the terribly vague obligation of collaboration with the municipalities. This will be corrected in the parliamentary procedure and the government has committed to so.
But most important of all, the radical cultural change that Catalonia must make in the face of the drought issue in order not to be dependent on whether it rains more or rains less is this: to urgently plan the necessary investments for the reuse of water, thus promoting regenerated water. We are not a rich country and resources are not unlimited. But neither are we a poor country condemned to not being able to fight against anything. It is, as always, a matter of setting priorities for one's own resources when it comes to distributing a budget, of negotiating successfully, of perseverance and intelligence, and of political force well used when demanding what Catalonia's share must be of the European Next Generation funds.
It is not the first time this century that Catalonia has faced a situation like the current one. In 2008 something similar happened, with the reservoirs at levels not very different to where they are at present, and although some measures were adopted - desalination, fundamentally - all we remember is the visit of the Catalan minister from the Iniciativa party, Francesc Baltasar, to Montserrat monastery to say a prayer asking that it rain. Which it did. Someone must have thought then that the next drought would be dealt with in the same way, because what has been done in the last fifteen years by the Catalan government is little, to put it mildly. It will be necessary to invest and invest a lot in the coming years if we want to stop depending on rain and give a real boost to the use of regenerated water.
At the beginning of March, the director of the Catalan Water Agency, Samuel Reyes, acknowledged that action could have been taken earlier against the drought, and, as of now, more than 200 municipal councils are applying exceptional measures to fight the drought and more than 6 million Catalans are affected to one degree or another. The use of water for many things has been banned after almost 30 months of drought. Citizens who partially suffer from this situation can come to understand it. Those affected in their only means of earning a living will have to be compensated. But it must be demanded of the Catalan government that they roll up their sleeves and get to work on this, negotiating agreements and cooperating with councils, local bodies and companies that can provide solutions. Because they are running out of time.