“Our model is not to fill Catalonia with desalination plants.”

Why did they decide to allow municipalities to open swimming pools?

Climate change has arrived and it's clear that not filling swimming pools could be a problem for many of these municipalities.

The decree also leaves room for private and tourist swimming pools if they are opened to the public.

This is not the intention. The text is designed so that a municipality that does not have a public swimming pool can declare a residence or sports club as a climate shelter.

Some councils claim they will not be able to manage it.

We are confident that the councils will be responsible enough and will not start declaring hotels as climate shelters.

The opposition threatens to cancel his decree. Will they change it?

no. City councils can adapt the municipal emergency plan and introduce swimming pools as climate shelters, that's all. It's very easy to do. We don't have to make it easier or harder.

Some mayors are also calling on them to cancel the fines.

They're not exactly asking for that. They demand that they be warned before receiving the fine.

Will that happen?

no. Regulations do not allow this.

But regarding other aspects, the government has already amended the regulations of the Special Drought Plan.

We have worked with the Federation of Catalan Municipalities and the Federation of Catalan Municipalities and have agreed on several points. Now, before imposing the penalties, we will analyze three months of consumption instead of one month and we will also allow municipalities to pay the fine in installments.

It recently announced an agreement with the government to transport water by boat. Why did they change their minds and choose mobile desalination plants?

We had been working for months on the possibility of a large floating desalination plant in Barcelona because the boat solution was not the best. They were expensive and provided less water.

What is your response to the parties and organizations that criticized the announcement?

They are the same people who criticize us doing wells or any action to obtain resources. These are specific procedures that we only activate in emergency situations.

Is it economically and environmentally sustainable?

The same thing happens with land-based desalination plants. Water is more expensive, but better than bringing it by boat. It will not have environmental consequences on the marine ecosystem. It must be believed that the floating desalination plant in Barcelona will be scalable. If it works, we can increase the amount of water.

Should water demand be contained, apart from supply management?

naturally. In fact, the constraints we impose affect demand. That's why we convened the National Water Level Meeting: to analyze how we can do the same with less consumption. It will be easier to focus everything on increasing supply.

Why easier?

We can install desalination plants along the coast and the problem will go away. But our model is not to fill the country with desalination plants. The solution is to get the necessary supply and work with the demand.

Is this model applicable for companies?

The entire economy and citizens must approach water use differently. Many industries and economic activities that had not been taken into account until now are now making investments more efficiently than ever before. I highlight the work done by agriculture in this direction.

Has the linkage proposal to transport water from the Ebro River to Barcelona been put on the government's table?

We have studied it, of course. But we don't need to transport water from the Ebro River. If we are against transferring water from the Ebro River to other places in Spain, how can we support transferring it to Barcelona?

Have they ever thought about it seriously?

no.

because?

We know that other organizations and parties do not share this, but we start from a basic principle: every basin has its own water. We prove it on Tir. Never before has so much water flowed from the Ter River towards Barcelona.

Does he stand firm on the plan to renovate Al-Baysus and make it drinkable (the delay is accumulating), in addition to installing the two new desalination plants?

Yes. If we can produce the 400 hectares that the metropolitan area consumes and be efficient, we will be able to do more with less. Thus, within five years, we will no longer need a floating desalination plant.

Do you think you have done everything you can to manage the drought?

Yes. I'm happy with what we did, even though we had to manage the worst drought in history. Although it is certain that if progress had been made on some long-awaited infrastructure, we would be better off by now, that's for sure.

What do you think of the audience's reaction?

Water consumption is reduced. This shows that people, companies and economic entities in Catalonia have understood that water is a finite commodity.

Is there progress in the pollution of groundwater aquifers?

In the last two images sent by Europe, Catalonia no longer appears as one of the red dots. Because things have been going well for years. It is true that there was a certain lack of control. But now we monitor using GPS where livestock waste ends up. Aquifer pollution will be reduced, but it is a slow process.

When will we see him?

In a few years we will see improvements. Another challenge is to utilize this waste and convert it into energy.

Can this be achieved without having to slow down the growth of aggregate farms?

I don't like this sect. But the constraints are there and the livestock sector is doing things better every time.

Is it possible that there are more pigs than people in Catalonia?

Catalonia will have to think one day if it has to produce millions of pigs in as many countries. As with all companies, when something doesn't quite work out, they refocus, and it's true that many of them will refocus their business towards plant-based protein.

Would it have been good for the same ministry to share the environment, agriculture, livestock and forestry sectors?

Yes. During the previous stages there was a constant war. Now we were able to get them to look into each other's faces and understand each other.

Do farmers agree to this?

At the height of the agricultural revolution, one of the demands was to change the name of the administration and restore the word agriculture. I asked them: “With the same powers now, or will we separate the ministries again?” The answer was unanimous. They said they wanted anti-corruption authority within the Ministry of Agriculture. If authorities had been separate, the drought could have been managed quickly.