How many millions of liters of water are there in the world? It is one of the most outstanding figures that visitors to L'Or Blau can learn, an exhibition that can be visited until April 18, 2021, at the Palau Robert in Barcelona, and whose objective is to raise awareness of the reality of water in the world, and in Catalonia in particular, in the face of the challenges of the climate emergency.
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The exhibition, in Catalan, Spanish, and English, is free and can be visited safely, as all necessary measures have been taken to avoid the risk of contagion. Open to all audiences, it offers an itinerary to discover what is behind the everyday gesture of turning on a tap and, thanks to an interactive staging, helps us understand the challenges society faces to ensure future supply.
It is surprising to note that today we drink the same water that existed in the age of dinosaurs, since water changes state, but the volume does not vary. The problem is that we have the same water, but in the last hundred years, the population has quadrupled and water demand has skyrocketed by 600%.
Visitors will also be shocked to discover that only 3% of the water on Earth is fresh and that of this, only 0.007% is available to us, as the vast majority of fresh water is frozen at the poles. And in Catalonia, how much water is there? The exhibition, in a very visual way, tells us that we have a dual reality: a lot of water and a small population in shared basins, that is, on the western side, and a large population and little water in internal basins, those closest to the sea.
Through the city of Barcelona, for example, rivers flow with a volume of between 14 and 22 cubic meters per second, a very small figure compared to the rivers that flow through Paris (575 m³/s) or Vienna (6,500 m³/s). It is a good way to illustrate the water deficit suffered by the metropolitan region, which has been partially reduced with the construction of a desalination plant, although new investments are still needed to promote, for example, water reuse, the great future solution proposed to guarantee supply.
This reality and the different droughts experienced make the citizens of Barcelona very aware of the need for efficient water consumption. Thus, the current consumption per inhabitant is 108 liters per person per day, a very small figure compared to the 666 liters of Beijing or the 503 of New York.
In one of the exhibition halls, a journey is made through the 20-year history of the Agència Catalana de l'Aigua (ACA), which has carried out a totally pioneering task to guarantee the proper functioning of the integral water cycle and the country's water planning. One of the most visible realities of the ACA is that since its creation in 2000, it has promoted a powerful network of more than 500 wastewater treatment plants that today ensure that rivers are no longer polluted.
The L'Or Blau exhibition makes a great pedagogical effort to explain each part of the integral water cycle, from capture and potabilization to sanitation and reuse, and also explains very well the different uses made of the resource, highlighting the large consumption of the agricultural sector worldwide.
It is worth spending some time on the water footprint calculator, which allows us to know how many liters of water have been used to produce various types of food, such as a steak, an orange, or a bottle of wine. A lot of information is also given about water consumption in homes, that is, the volumes consumed for a shower, for drinking and cooking, or for running a dishwasher.
"Thanks to an accessible narrative, the exhibition helps to understand a reality not always visible and inspires to join forces to face one of the most complex challenges in human history," explains the ACA.
At the end of the exhibition, in the Water Futures room, the urgent question of how we can stop the water crisis is posed. This is done through an installation that demands visitor participation, who has to choose between five answers: better communication and awareness; legislate and impose more fines; innovate with new technologies such as regeneration and desalination; optimize consumption for different uses, and better share the resource. To choose an answer, one must step on the corresponding pedal and, automatically, a container fills with water, simulating a bar graph where the most chosen solutions can be visualized.
The L'Or Blau exhibition is jointly organized by the Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat and the Direcció General de Difusió del Departament de la Vicepresidència i d'Economia i Hisenda. The exhibition has been curated by the Agència Catalana de l'Aigua and by Domestic Data Streamers, a studio specialized in displaying data through interactive systems and experiences.