Spain: Barcelona relies on wastewater recycling in the face of drought
The metropolis of Barcelona has been on drought alert for several weeks. And to counter the alarming forecasts, it relies on wastewater recycling. © JOSEP LAGO - AFP
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The metropolis of Barcelona has been on drought alert for several weeks. And to counter the alarming forecasts, it relies on wastewater recycling.
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With our correspondent in Barcelona, Elise Gazengel
Barcelona is banking on wastewater recycling to cope with an increasingly dry climate future. This week, the Catalan capital and the 35 other municipalities that make up its metropolis announced an agreement to double the production of recycled water.
Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), explains: "We will invest more than 120 million euros over the next five years with the aim of doubling the production of recycled water. In 2022, we were between 55 and 60 cubic hectometers, and we want to go to 110 hm3.
»« So they already have a very important role. »
A solution that follows a logic already put in place for several years here, considers Eloi Badia, in charge of the climate emergency at the Barcelona City Council: "We believe that it will be more and more necessary in our daily lives. Moreover, currently, recycled water represents 56 cubic hectometers, or 20% of water consumption in the metropolis. So they already have a very important role.
»Water previously used mainly for irrigation and public watering, which will now be reinjected into dying rivers and which tend, motivated by the climate emergency, to become drinkable.
►Relisten: What solutions to implement in the face of water scarcity?
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- Spain
- Water
- Natural disasters
- Climate
- Climate change
- Catalonia