The Metropolitan Council has approved a well project in Sant Joan Despí, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, and Santa Coloma de Cervelló to extract water from the Llobregat aquifer during drought episodes.
The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) has provisionally greenlit the construction of a new well field around the drinking water treatment station (ETAP) in Sant Joan Despí, an infrastructure that directly affects the municipalities of Sant Boi de Llobregat, Sant Joan Despí, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, and Santa Coloma de Cervelló. The project, approved in the July plenary session of the Metropolitan Council, will allow for the extraction of water from the Llobregat River aquifer in cases of water scarcity and drought.
This initiative is part of the AMB's strategies to prepare the territory for future episodes of water shortage. The infrastructure will be able to extract up to 1.4 cubic meters per second from the aquifer, an additional flow to the water usage concession of the ETAP in Sant Joan Despí, although with a maximum limit of 15 days per year to avoid negative environmental effects.
In addition to extraction, the wells will have a recharge function: during times of high availability of surface resources, water will be injected into the aquifer to achieve more sustainable exploitation. The ETAP in Sant Joan Despí will prioritise the capture of surface water over groundwater, as long as the quality of the river and the exploitation conditions allow it, and the exploitation of the aquifer will also be conditioned by the volumes available in the reservoirs.
The specific action project on non-urbanisable land has been provisionally approved by the Metropolitan Council and will now be processed by the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition of the Generalitat for final approval. Once this procedure is completed, construction of the wells can begin, which will be located in the municipalities of Sant Boi de Llobregat, Sant Joan Despí, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, and Santa Coloma de Cervelló.
This action is part of a package of measures from the AMB to increase alternative resources in the water cycle, led by water regeneration and the increased use of resources that do not depend on weather conditions. The droughts of recent years have highlighted the need for infrastructures of this kind to ensure supply to the metropolitan population.
The Llobregat well field adds to other initiatives from the AMB, such as the expansion of the desalination plant in Prat de Llobregat or the water regeneration projects for agricultural and environmental uses. Together, these actions aim to reduce dependence on rainfall and reservoirs, which are becoming increasingly unpredictable due to climate change.
For the residents of Sant Boi de Llobregat, the new infrastructure represents an additional guarantee of supply in situations of water emergency, although the project still needs to pass the final approval of the Generalitat. The processing is expected to be completed in the coming months, and construction is anticipated to begin throughout 2027.
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