Catalonia extends the limit of 100 liters of water consumption per hotel room to tourism

Considers authorizing private desalination plants to maintain economic activities

   BARCELONA, 16 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Generalitat has decreed this Tuesday to extend to the tourism sector the limitations on the use of water that domestic users have, with 100 liters per day in each hotel room in the current situation of the first phase of emergency due to drought that Catalonia is suffering.

This was explained this Tuesday by the Government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, at the press conference after the meeting of the Executive Council, in which she detailed that, in the future, exceptional situations due to drought will limit the use of water to 115 liters. per hotel room per day, while the threshold will be 90 liters per room in the second, more serious emergency phase.

The Government has justified the measure because the majority of tourist establishments are connected to the general distribution network under the same conditions as the supply for conventional homes.

The decree approved this Tuesday contemplates the authorization of privately owned mobile desalination plants to use sea water in economic activities that until now are fed by the general water system.

The desalination plants, Plaja has stressed, must be financed entirely by private funds, and will be exempt from limitations on the use of water because they represent a new source of water disconnected from the network that does not affect the general consumption levels of citizens. .

In parallel, this Tuesday's decree modifies the sanctioning regime to extend the controls from a monthly period to a quarterly period, which will allow for a more extensive evaluation of the trend of water consumption to better modulate the sanction.

The minor infraction will have fines of up to 10,000 euros, the serious infraction includes penalties of between 10,000 and 50,000 euros, while the very serious one sets fines of between 50,000 and 150,000 euros.