Tanker Dutch Spirit in the port of Bermeo this Thursday CONSORCIO DE AGUAS BILBAO BIZKAI (CONSORCIO DE AGUAS BILBAO BIZKAI)
The Bilbao Bizkaia Water Consortium (CABB) Dutch Spirit tanker began supplying water to the Busturialdea region from the port of Bermeo this morning, serving 16 of its communities. The suffocating heat of recent months has exacerbated the drought, prompting authorities in these cities to close faucets, irrigation systems and showers in common areas and reduce the flow of water in the early hours from noon to 6 a.m. in the morning. The morning.
The ship will inject the water into the system via the pumping network specially built for this operation. The vessel, which will be in operation for the next two months, returns to Bilbao’s Santurtzi port every 40 hours to refuel and resupply water from Bermeo. The first trip between the ports will take place this Thursday at five in the afternoon.
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The consortium justified this measure with “ensuring the supply of the population in the summer months and protecting the ecological runoff of the rivers” after the region reached emergency level 3 on August 5 due to low water supplies.
The province of Biscay’s water reservoirs are about 70% full, however the Busturialdea region is not fed by these reserves but had independent regulation until January this year when the CABB took over administration. The riverbeds that supply the area are at minimum levels and around 45,000 people in the area are affected by water use restrictions.
The consortium stresses that this measure is “temporary” and that the final solution is to integrate Busturialdea into the network that serves the rest of Bizkaia, the Zadorra reservoir system. This water reservoir, the largest in the entire Basque Country, supplies fresh water to a large part of the region.
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The tanker, with a capacity of four million liters of water, will supply the Busturialdea network with two million a day, around 23 liters per second, the CABB reports. However, these forecasts depend on the amount of water left behind by the rains in the area during the period that the ship is in operation.
The 16 cities that the Dutch Spirit waters will reach are: Ajangiz, Arratzu, Bermeo, Busturia, Ea, Elantxobe, Gernika-Lumo, Forua, Gautegiz-Arteaga, Ibarrangelua, Kortezubi, Mendata, Mundaka, Murueta, Muxika and Pedernales .