Twenty-two kilometres of sewerage to be renewed
Barcelona is to renew 13 kilometres of sewerage and add 9 kilometres of new sections to the network. The investment of 40.6 million euros is part of the Pla Endreça and will help improve the operation of the network and the environmental conditions in spaces above ground.
Work will be carried out at 201 points in the city’s ten districts. A total of 50 actions will be applied in 2025, followed by a further 121 in 2026 and 30 in 2027.
The improvements and renovations will:
- Prevent obstacles and facilitate network maintenance.
- Avoid unpleasant smells above ground and improve the environmental quality of neighbourhoods.
- Prevent sinkholes in public streets.
- Facilitate maintenance work for private sewers.
- Extend the useful life of sewerage, making the infrastructure sustainable and reducing the carbon footprint.
The city’s sewerage system covers 1,985 kilometres in all and is a unitary system, meaning it carries residual domestic water and, in episodes of rainfall, collects rainwater through the drains. The system includes the meshed network of water tanks, wells, rainwater regulation tanks and chambers, which retain rainwater during heavy rainfall and release it gradually afterwards. The city currently has 15 rainwater retention tanks with a nominal volume of 447,020 cubic metres. The City Council has also approved a special urban plan to reserve land for the construction of a further 29 tanks to bring the total retention capacity to over a million cubic metres.
