From this Friday, when it is published in the Generalitat's official gazette, Catalonia is officially in emergency phase in the serious water supply crisis that the country is undergoing due to the prolonged drought, which has been going on for more than three years. This is an unprecedented situation, affecting about six million people who live in the most populated municipalities in Catalonia, receiving water from the Ter-Llobregat system whose water reserves are now below 16% of capacity, their lowest historical level.
But it is, above all, a calamity. A consequence, to a great degree, of several governments of Catalonia not having done their homework in time. There have been at least two other times in recent decades when the situation could have been reversed. Maybe not definitively, but certainly to alleviate the real drama that is underway now. Firstly, at the beginning of this century, when Jordi Pujol asked José María Aznar to transfer water from the Rhône. A demand which had arisen long before that and was supported by a broad consensus of experts.
The then-Spanish prime minister was firm and his commitment was to transfer of water from the Ebre, and we already know how that ended. In 2008, during the Catalan presidency of José Montilla, the issue was raised again and, in this case, with the presence in Catalonia of those responsible for the region of Bas-Rhône and Languedoc, as well as the company Suez-Lyonnais des Eaux. The French commitment was that by uniting the political will of the authorities on both sides of the border, the project to transfer water from the Rhone to the internal Catalan basins could be achieved in five years. At that time, the option chosen was for the construction of desalination plants, which had only just begun.
Although the next Catalan president, Artur Mas, tried to return to the task of the transfer from the Rhône from 2011, the conditions were no longer the same and, moreover, the problem of the drought of 2008 had gone away, because it was raining again and reservoir levels had come back up. Now, after three more years of persistent drought, we see everything that could have been done and wasn't. And it's bleak. The current Government could also have woken up to the problem earlier and made the investments when they were due, but, surely, no one quite believed that we would reach this situation.
The drought forces us to manage four crises: that of individuals, that of farmers, that of industry and that of the tourism sector
And the real problem has only just begun. You only have to listen to the affected sectors crying out for help over the enormous economic damage that they may end up suffering. Four crises have to be managed simultaneously: that of individuals, that of farmers, that of industry and that of the tourism sector. Each important, although with different consequences. Individuals and farmers already know the hurt that this is causing, because their effort has been significant in recent times.
But, unless the situation changes and it rains amply, industry and tourism will have to face several enormously-critical months. Tourism represents 12% of the Catalan GDP and 13% of employment. According to the latest statistics, the number of tourists who arrived in Catalonia last year, up till November, was around 16.98 million. If the conditions of their stay in Catalonia change drastically, other destinations may take over. It is a serious risk which needs to be evaluated in good time and then measures taken, even if they are politically difficult. There is no other way.