Mission: empty the large warehouse that supplies Barcelona before its water goes bad

Halfway between Barcelona and the Pyrenees, a bell tower emerged from a swamp last summer. The remains belonged to San Román de Sau, a tiny municipality with remains of the Romanesque style that, after the construction of a dam in 1962, was buried, theoretically never to return. But it came back. Its muddy ruins have been attracting onlookers for months who photograph a picture that has already become a gloomy allegory for the climatic emergency that has dried Catalonia for more than two years. The Sau reservoir, one of the main ones that supplies Barcelona, ​​is so empty that there is a danger that the little water that still remains will be lost among dead fish and mud. To avoid this, the Catalan government began an operation against the clock this week to empty it in a month in order to make the most of the reserves. The swamp dies and, apart from architectural ruins, the ghost of the greatest drought of the century also emerges from its depths.

From the Pyrenees to the mouths of the rivers, the absence of water takes shape in the Mediterranean and shakes pharaonic infrastructures. The Generalitat declared the Sau reservoir insurmountable at the beginning of March and announced the decision to transfer its water to the neighboring Susqueda reservoir. The water from the installation, raised by that Spain of the dictatorship that filled the country with swamps to the rhythm of No-Do, languishes like never before: it is at 10% of its capacity, when the average for the decade at this time of year is of 69%.

In total, a volume is at stake with which to supply a million people for three months in full declaration of the state of emergency due to the drought, which already implies domestic, agricultural and industrial limitations for six million Catalans. Supply cuts for the summer in Barcelona begin to appear as a serious possibility if the sky continues to be empty of clouds, warns the Generalitat itself. The lack of rain is the longest (30 months) since data collection began in 1905.

The dam’s engine room works at full speed to remove 500 million liters a day. A huge mouth sends pressurized water to the River Ter, which takes it to the neighboring Susqueda reservoir, with a larger capacity. The noise of the water spit from the tube is deafening. “Let it rain at once”, asks a group of mountain bikers who are taking a break on the large stone border that interrupts the natural course of the river. Meanwhile, on the other side of the dam, the liquid level drops and the green hue due to the lack of water renewal extends for 17 kilometers. After winding a road surrounded by fallen leaves and bare trees, the ruins of the old town can be seen on one of the previously submerged banks. It is one of the corners of the reservoir and it is increasingly dead.

The landscape is more like a desert than a body of water. Plants die on the cracked earth and green is scarce. Several dozen onlookers walk along the banks making paths to the ruins. The fact that it is during the week has not prevented a parking More thought for the summer to fill up. It is a reflection of “drought tourism”, as the mayor of the nearby municipality of Vilanova de Sau (Barcelona), Joan Riera, has baptized it, amidst criticism of the Generalitat for alleged neglect in the area.

Eugenia Remendo, a resident of Barcelona and retired, is one of the curious people who, mobile in hand, walked around the architectural remains on Wednesday. “The last time she came, last year, she only saw how the tip of the bell tower was sticking out of the water a little, but now look how it is. She is impressed to see him like this. Whole. And she worries. Let’s see if it rains… ”, says Remendo, leaning on an emerged stone wall. The woman, herself, is located about twenty meters after crossing the bell tower (which is fenced so that no one can enter) and already deep inside the reservoir, in an area never uncovered until now.

There are several kayaks sitting on the ground, still tied to a jetty that should normally float. A wooden walkway leads to a small yacht club where boats are now stacked under plastic sheets.

exotic species

Where the water still resists, a small fishing boat collects nets loaded with fish. It is one of the boats that the Government lowered by crane from the dam and with which it calculates to be able to capture up to six tons of fish in the shortest possible time. Any kind of technique will do, including electric fishing in the most remote and narrow areas of the swamp. Of the 10 species that inhabit the waters, nine are exotic, introduced by human action and that for years have completely disrupted the ecosystem to the point of affecting algae, sediments, zooplankton… A chain ecological failure that turned the installation in a gigantic boba soup of species that only poachers have taken advantage of.

In parallel to the drainage and fishing, technicians posted to the area are analyzing the quality of the water on a daily basis. They will be the ones who decide until what day you can continue downloading Sau. The levels of water quality will mark it. When they get worse, the diversion will be over. The goal is to get as much as possible for as many days as possible. Sources from the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) believe that the work may take more than a month.

The drought has uncovered ruins, but also garbage. A dozen workers from the Parador hotel, a four-star accommodation with privileged views of the swamp, volunteered on Wednesday to collect the debris that emerged. In an hour and a half they collected 76 kilos of plastic and 16 of glass. Among the waste, masks, and bottles. But also a teaspoon, with the logo of the Cobi mascot of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, which shone through an ever-widening quagmire.

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