President Aragonès expects Catalonia to declare drought emergency next week
Residents and farmers' efforts highlighted as having put off state of emergency
Catalonia will "probably" enter a drought state of emergency next week, Catalan President Pere Aragonès told Catalunya Ràdio on Monday morning.
It is estimated that reservoirs will remain at 16% capacity in the coming days.
Aragonès stressed the importance of keeping an eye on consumption and possible rainfall, although the short-term weather forecast doesn’t predict any rain.
The president also praised Catalan residents and farmers for their water-saving efforts, which have made it possible to avoid entering a state of drought emergency for so long: "They have understood that we are in an exceptional situation," Aragonès said, adding that without this effort, Catalonia would have entered a state of emergency a year ago.
Criticism
Meanwhile, the government’s "lack of transparency" in dealing with the drought was criticized on Saturday during the third Social Water Summit in Catalonia, in which some 70 members from more than 30 Catalan environmental organizations participated.
"We don’t know if water has been saved or if the large economic entities, that consume more than half of all the water in Catalonia, are complying with the restrictions that have been put in place," said the spokesperson from the environmental platform l'Aigua és Vida, Dante Mascio, adding that official data on how much water has been used and saved during the drought restrictions has not been made public.
No snap election in 2024
During his radio interview, Pere Aragonès also rejected the possibility of a snap election this year, maintaining that the Catalan elections will take place in February of 2025.
The Catalan president also said that he was “confident” that the 2024 budget would get passed, as budget talks are progressing well.