water

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Trade union EuroCOP urge for Mossos d'Esquadra to be able to launch cross-border investigations

Research led by University of Barcelona shows Covid-19 in Catalonia a year before first case confirmed

Territory and sustainability minister reveals investment needed to restore rivers and water infrastructure

The world’s biggest international gay festival sees music and fun at the Illa Fantasia waterpark just outside Barcelona

In some cases production is decreasing, while in others the product’s size is smaller than it should be

This year’s event is about “culture” and “dialogue,” featuring Guillermo Del Toro and director of The Exorcist William Friedkin

Isla Fantasia waterpark, located 30 kilometres north of Barcelona, hosted this Tuesday the 'Water Park Day', the main highlight of Circuit Festival 2016, the world’s largest LGBTI party. Around 8,000 people from all over the world, mainly gay males between 25 and 40 years old, enjoyed the sun, the water facilities and live sessions from nine different DJs, in what is considered to be the biggest open-air gay party in Europe. Circuit Festival kicked off in Barcelona on the 2^nd of August and will feature a wide range of parties, concerts, sports events and other leisure activities for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people until the 14^th of August. Last year around 72,000 people attended the Circuit, 80% of them foreigners. 

The European Parliament (EP) approved this Wednesday the assessment presented by a delegation of MEPs who visited the Ebro Delta on the 8^th of February. In their report, the MEPs focused on the “lack of ecological flow” and questioned whether Spain’s Ebro Water Plan (PHE) was in compliance with community law. Catalan MEPs and the Platform for the Defence of the Ebro Delta (PDE) celebrated the decision but urged the European Commission to act “quickly, clearly and firmly” and stop the plan projected by the Spanish Government. Even so, PDE’s spokesperson Manolo Tomás and Susana Abella considered the EP’s decision to be “an important step toward modifying Spain’s Water Plan” and “recognition” of the social demonstrations of the last years.

Six MEPs from the Committee on Petitions visited the Ebro Delta, in Catalonia’s southern region of Tarragona, to meet the several petitioners who have claimed that Spain’s new National Water Plan (NWP) may infringe the EU Water Framework Directive. Environmentalists say one of Europe's most important wetland areas is under threat as Spain’s new Plan aims to reduce the river’s flow to 3,000 cubic hectometres per year and add 465,000 new hectares of irrigated lands to an already existing one million hectares, which will also contribute to cutting the sediment level dramatically. Besides the risk to the delta’s survival, the Platform for the Defence of the Ebro Delta (PDE) are worried that ultimately these waters could be transferred to other, drier regions of Spain. The visit of the EU delegation comes after 50,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Amposta in Catalonia on Sunday to protest against the plans.

‘Lucy’s Mansion’, an independent building inside the Gold River Hotel at the amusement park PortAventura in Tarragona, will be adapted into a five-star hotel.  PortAventura will be twenty years old this season and the theme park wants to celebrate it by moving into the highest level.  The new hotel will be inaugurated on 2^nd April  with twenty-eight deluxe rooms and two suites. At the same time, PortAventura will build a new building inside the Gold River Hotel named ‘Callaghan’. This new four-star hotel will be the biggest establishment of the park with seventy-eight rooms and will be inaugurated on 1^st June. The development of the hotel complex confirms the strategy of PortAventura to consolidate its position as the best familiar leisure destination in Europe.

Barcelona will be hosting the International Boat Show 2014, between the 15^th and the 19^th of October. The 54^th Edition of the Show is expected to be the most successful yet, and organizers are confident it will show that the marine industry has left the crisis behind for the first time in 7 years. The Port of Barcelona is the perfect location for such an event, and is a significant contributor to the Catalan economy. An exhibition of both commercial and recreational marine vessels, organizers expect high levels of participation and sales. One of the highlights of the exhibition will be Lehr and Nautigas, maker of the innovative engine that runs on propane, leading the way in environmentally-friendly vessels. Among the show’s 19 facilities there will also be organic fuels on display, with explanations of both their environmental and financial benefits.  

From the 6^th-17^th August, Barcelona hosts the 7^th edition of Circuit Festival, an international event directed towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people. The aim of this edition is to promote the festival as an "international meeting point", since 80% of last year's 71,000 participants came from abroad. Furthermore, Barcelona will profit from the €100 million that Circuit attendees bring to the local economy.  The organisers of the festival have prepared more than 50 events for its audiences to enjoy. The main party will take place on Tuesday 12^th August at the Illa Fantasia waterpark in Vilassar de Dalt, a town around 20km north of Barcelona city.Both the event's organisers and local hotel owners expect even more attendees at the festival this year.

Barcelona-based Criteria CaixaHolding becomes the second largest shareholder of Suez Environnement after signing a binding agreement with the French-based utility company for the sale of Criteria's 24.14% stake in Agbar (Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona, S.A.) in exchange for 22 million newly issued Suez Environnement shares. These shares represent 4.1% of Suez's share capital and €299 million in cash. As part of the agreement, Criteria stated its intention to allocate part of the money received from the purchase of Suez Environnement shares in the stock market, aiming to achieve, depending on market conditions, a 7% stake in Suez Environnement, a company which currently controls 75.35% of Agbar.

The Catalan Executive announced it will take the Spanish Government’s Hydrologic Plan for the Ebro River (Plan Hidrológico del Ebro) to the European Commission, as it will damage the river’s delta, which is a unique environment and one of UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserves. The European Commission replied that it will need “weeks or even months” to analyse the plan, which only guarantees that around 30% of the river’s volume of flow will reach the delta. According to scientific studies, such a volume of water is absolutely insufficient to preserve the Delta, which is a reserve for wildlife as well as a tourist and agricultural centre. The project foresees allocating almost 11,000 cubic hectometres of water per year upstream to irrigate 1.41 million hectares of fields, a third of them newly-created. Brussels is still waiting for Madrid’s documentation but the Commission warned that it will look at the plan “from all the possible angles”.