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Catalonia’s lack of rain has one major victim: swimming pools. In the midst of drought and a period of severe restrictions on water consumption, the number of new constructions in the region has fallen sharply. This is assured by the industry’s own employers, who estimate they will add 1,600 jobs this year. They may seem like a lot, especially given the context, but they are 80% less than those installed in a normal year.

There is even a city council in the province of Girona that has decided to suspend the issuance of licenses for new swimming pools for a year.

2024 will not be the year of homemade sauces.

Fewer (much less) pools. The data comes from the industry’s national employers’ association; is itself an interested party, but provides a valuable indication of how water scarcity is affecting their business. It is estimated that around 1,600 swimming pools will be built in Catalonia this year. They may seem like a lot in the context of drought and savings constraints, but in reality this is well below the volume of activity they usually have. Specifically, they talk 80% less than in previous years, when it was normal for them to build around 9,000 swimming pools.

The data has just been released by 3Cat and was developed weeks ago CountryA report by the Spanish Association of Swimming Pool Industry Experts (Asofap) has already put forward an estimate of 82% less construction in Catalonia. There are 195,900 swimming pools throughout the community, 1,800 of which are indoor. At least in 2023, San Cugat del Vallès tops the regional ranking with the city with 4,900 swimming pools, followed by Lliça d’Amunt and Lloret de Mar.

There is no new license. The fact that there was a drought alarm and the sector’s own employers predicted a decrease in activities did not prevent those who wanted a swimming pool from going to municipalities and requesting the relevant license. 68 people registered in Barcelona in 2023 CountryThis also indicates that there have been more than twenty individuals in Matadepera in the Vallés Occidental region so far this year.

When the projects comply with the legislation of the sector, municipal organizations have no choice but to grant licenses. It doesn’t matter that the pool won’t be filled once completed, it’s a warning that some municipalities are already considering leaving the license in writing. In this context, an extraordinary measure was proposed in Palafrugell in February, which also explains the decline in new construction detected by the swimming pool employers’ association.

Twelve months suspension. A month ago, the city council approved the temporary suspension of the issuance of permits for the construction of swimming pools at the municipal general meeting. The measure also affects work to expand or rehabilitate ponds that already exist or have been unused for years. The enforcement will be limited to one year and sanctions will be imposed on 11 neighbors who already have swimming pools and fill their pools despite the drought emergency.

Those who do not like Palafrugell’s decision are Asofap itself, which issued a statement at the beginning of March against the suspension of building permits for the construction of swimming pools. The statement does not mention the town of Girona and refers to “municipality” in the plural, but is categorical. He believes the measure, which directly affects his business, is “disproportionate”.

Signs from behind. This isn’t the first time businesses focused on pool construction have warned of a decline in workload. in august Daily Bear The complaints of companies that detected a decrease in demand precisely due to water scarcity were already echoed. “We lost new construction jobs due to the drought,” commented the manager of a company specializing in swimming pools, spas and gardening. “There are people who have stopped hiring because they are aware of the drought,” confirmed another professional.

Map of the Catalan Water Agency at different levels: blue (normality), green (pre-alarm), yellow (alarm), orange (exceptional), pink (pre-alarm), red (emergency) and brown (emergency II).

drought rules. The reason for the collapse in Asofap’s activity forecasts and measures such as those adopted by Palafrugell is simple: the drought that has shaken Catalonia and caused the Generalitat to maintain the emergency level despite the rains that brought slight relief in recent days. to reservoirs in their inland basins. “The epidemic is still intense and we need to continue our efforts to overcome it,” deputy head of government Laura Vilagrà said recently. The Generalitat’s website indicates which areas are affected and their categories.

Among the measures implemented to control drought and save water, the Catalan Government foresees a ban on filling swimming pools with fresh water. The intended exceptions are limited to those covered by the Generalitat’s own sports census, those used for the training of federated athletes, those intended for therapeutic use, and those filled with seawater.

Pictures | Point3D Commercial Imaging Ltd. (Unsplash) and Agència Catalana de l`Water

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