The metropolis of Barcelona has been on drought alert for several weeks. And to counter the alarming forecasts, it is counting on the recycling of wastewater.
With our correspondent in Barcelona, Elise Gazengel
Barcelona is betting on the recycling of wastewater to face an increasingly dry climatic 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 are going to 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 hectometres, and we want to go to 110 hm3. »
” They already have a very important role »
A solution that follows a logic already in place for several years here, considers Eloi Badia, in charge of the climate emergency at Barcelona City Hall: “ We believe that it will be more and more necessary in our daily life. Moreover, currently, recycled water represents 56 cubic hectometres, or 20% of water consumption in the metropolis. They already have a very important role. »
Water used until then mainly for irrigation and public watering, which will now be reinjected into the dying rivers and which tend, motivated by the climatic emergency, to become drinkable.
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