In a Priorat in an emergency situation due to drought, desperate, punished by the lack of rain like no other corner of Catalonia, a week after a fearsome double forest fire, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has visited Cabacés, the epicentre of the fire, to announce a shock plan. If the commitment is fulfilled, it would be an unprecedented action in the forgotten and mistreated region of Priorat.
The president has outlined the plan today in an institutional appearance, without admitting any questions from journalists. The Government assumes that the water from the Ebro River will reach Priorat at the beginning of 2026 or at the end of 2025 in the most optimistic scenario. A year earlier than the previous ERC Government had predicted.
“We are not coming with miracles, we are working hard. Priorat is important to us, the priority is to bring water,” said the president.
All procedures will be accelerated to connect the water supply from the Garrigues Sud Irrigation Community (Lleida) to the irrigators of the Siurana River (Priorat), who have been without water for three summers. The project has a budget of six million euros.
The water will be used to address the dramatic situation of the Siurana reservoir, which is below 2% of its capacity and cannot irrigate vineyards or olive trees.
“We do not promise to work miracles, but we do promise to work. The situation cannot be changed in a day, but all the procedures will be accelerated to reduce the expected time to deliver the water by more than a year,” he explained.
The plan that the president brought with him to Priorat includes a package of aid worth 70.8 million euros to help farmers to alleviate the harsh consequences of the drought, with harvests that in some cases have decreased by up to 70%. The death of trees and vineyards is alarming. The rain of millions will not only be for Priorat, as the funds are open to farmers throughout Catalonia who have suffered the consequences of the drought. The extraordinary aid for the lack of irrigation will be approved next Wednesday by the Executive Council of the Generalitat, convened one day after the Mercè, a public holiday in Barcelona.
Illa entered the Cabacés Town Hall amidst the whistles and shouts of some 150 people gathered to demand solutions to the drought. Among the protesters were farmers, winegrowers, irrigators and members of the association network of the entire Priorat region. “We want water, the situation is dramatic,” said Salvador Burgos, who has a winery in Poboleda and in the midst of one of the worst grape harvests he can remember.
With a calm demeanor, Illa greeted, impassively, the councillors of the City Council who were waiting for him at the entrance, with a banner of the protesters demanding that the water transferred for decades from the Siurana reservoir to the Riudecanyes reservoir, in the neighbouring Baix Camp region, be returned. The Riudecanyes reservoir is also at a minimum (1.6%).
Eight of the 23 mayors of Priorat, as well as representatives of the irrigators, were waiting for him inside the Town Hall. The meeting lasted almost an hour.
“The news is good, but now it has to be implemented,” said Sergi Méndez, president of the Priorat Regional Council and mayor of Ulldemolins, after the announcement. “We left the meeting happy, the situation in Priorat is dramatic,” insisted Méndez, who has demanded a monitoring committee to ensure compliance with what was announced. Illa has given the go-ahead to the committee.
The Unió de Pagesos union, which had called for the protest at the doors of the Town Hall together with other organisations, also welcomed the announcement. “We will be very attentive, especially if it rains. The shock plan must be implemented no matter what, Priorat cannot wait any longer,” said Carlos Vicente, a prominent leader of the Priorat agricultural union.
Emergency solution
Tank trucks in Riudecanyes
Riudecanyes (Baix Camp) has begun to receive the first tanker trucks with drinking water a few hours after recommending that the 1,300 residents shorten the time they take showers due to the poor quality of the water, which is contaminated. In a statement to residents, the City Council has warned that restrictions may have to be made in the houses in the new supply system. The tanker trucks should contribute to improving the poor quality of the water. The Riudecanyes reservoir, which supplies the municipality, has fallen to 1.6% of its capacity due to the drought that has lasted for three years. “From this Friday the town will begin to be partially supplied through tankers, with the aim of being able to reduce the parameters that have led us to the current situation,” says the Council. Residents have been summoned to a meeting on Tuesday to clarify doubts about the use of the water that reaches the taps. Representatives of Health will be present at the meeting. Two months ago, the City Council asked residents not to drink or cook with the water that comes out of their taps. The main problem is the excessive presence of trihalomethanes, a volatile organic chemical compound detected in the water. Bottles of water are distributed to residents every week.
Source: www.lavanguardia.com
