A major Catalan irrigation facility is about to turn off the water due to the drought. The governing board of the General Community of Canals d'Urgell Irrigators has agreed to close off irrigation to the infrastructure in Lleida province from next Tuesday, April 25th due to the lack of rain and the dwindling reserves of the Oliana-Rialb reservoir system on the Segre river, so that restrictions and prioritisation of water uses has been necessary. It is the first time in history that a measure as drastic as that of cutting off irrigation has been taken just a month after the Urgell Canals system opened up the channels for its "spring campaign". This was announced by the president of the Canal, Amadeu Ros.
Thus, the irrigation farming community reiterates that summer crops will not be planted, and it estimates losses of millions, while trying to safeguard winter barley and wheat crops. The Canals d'Urgell, built in the nineteenth century, is in fact a network of irrigation channels that supply water to a 70,000-hectare agricultural area over five different counties on the Plain of Lleida, in which 77,000 people live. Next week there is a meeting at the Hydrographic Confederation of the Ebro (CHE) at which the Declaration of a Disaster Area will be discussed.
Catalonia, in an emergency phase?
The weeks pass and the rains do not arrive in Catalonia. Faced with this problem, the Catalan government has warned that if it doesn't rain in the coming months, it will enter an emergency drought phase next September. The director of the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), Samuel Reyes, affirms that reserves are currently at 26% of their capacity and that, at the moment, the weather forecasts do not show "a change in trend". This situation, if it is reached, would lead to new restrictions for the public, with figure for daily consumption per person having been reduced by 5 litres per day for the third consecutive month, placing the current amount at 180 litres per person per day. Since this is managed at municipal level, individuals do not notice it, although everyone is called upon to reduce their water usage.
The Catalan government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, and the director of the ACA have already warned that the weather in May could be decisive - the last month where reasonable spring rainfall could reasonably be expected, before Catalonia's drier summer months. The month of April has helped "little", she said, having been "drier" than is usual for this time of year.