Barcelona City Council is implementing various European research projects through the water company Barcelona Cicle de l’Aigua (BCASA). The goal is to analyse the impact of the virus on water and establish detection and warning systems for wastewater.

Two of the projects under way are aimed at generating data, tools and studies which will help improve the way the pandemic is managed, improving early detection, anticipating the response to infections and outbreaks and cutting transmissions.

Technical support is also being offered to two projects which have included the analysis of the coronavirus among their goals, and proposals for three further European projects have also been presented.

At the same time, the City Council is taking part in a workgroup with institutions and organisations from Catalonia to broaden knowledge on Covid-19 in the water cycle and provide information on the transmission of the virus in Catalonia.

Life iBathwater

This study was started in 2018 and is being conducted in parallel in Barcelona and Berlin. The goal is to improve the quality of bathwater during pollution episodes caused by rainwater.

With the health crisis, an ongoing analysis of the presence of Covid-19 in sewage and bathwater has started. Two testing stations are currently operating, one at the Somorrostro beach and the other at the Bogatell beach.

Analysis of water in the neighbourhoods

This project is being carried out in the cities of Barcelona, Gothenburg and Amersfoort. It analyses the correlation between wastewater quality, quality of life and environmental habits.

The impact of the coronavirus at a neighbourhood level is also now being studied. To this end, a testing station for wastewater quality will be set up in Poblenou in September, with two others to follow in the neighbourhoods of Sarrià and El Carmel.