Spain: EIB and Government of Catalonia expand cooperation to improve water infrastructure

• EIB Group President Nadia Calviño and President of the Government of Catalonia Salvador Illa held a working meeting and visited Barcelona's Trinitat water distribution station – a beneficiary of EIB financing – today.
• The EIB is providing €260 million to finance improvements being made by Ente de Abastecimiento de Agua Ter-Llobregat (ATL) – which is under the auspices of the Government of Catalonia – to water supply treatment plants covering the province of Barcelona.
• The Regional Resilience Fund Investment Board is expected to make a decision on this project at its next meeting and start the process to add a further €100 million to its financing. This could bring the total EIB-managed investment to €360 million.
• Since 2016, EIB-financed projects have improved drinking water supply for over 1.6 million residents in Catalonia. Catalonia accounted for more than half of EIB-financed water investment in 2024.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing €260 million to finance the improvement and expansion of water infrastructure managed by Ente de Abastecimiento de Agua Ter-Llobregat (ATL) in the province of Barcelona. ATL is a public sector entity under the auspices of the Government of Catalonia.

This investment will have a direct positive impact for residents as it will help to mitigate the effects of climate change and improve the water supply in the drought-hit region by improving its infrastructure, facilitating effective management of water and energy resources.

“At the EIB, we are financing major investments to improve water management in Catalonia. The goal is to improve infrastructure, modernise management, minimise losses and safeguard clean water and sanitation, which is vitally important for people’s quality of life,” said EIB Group President Nadia Calviño.

President of the Government of Catalonia Salvador Illa added that “drought is not a seasonal problem. This is why the expansion of water infrastructure is so important, particularly in the Ter-Llobregat area. This project with the EIB will enable us to make sure that Catalonia is better prepared for and more resilient to climate challenges.”

The Regional Resilience Fund Investment Board is expected to make a decision on this project at its next meeting and start the process to add a further €100 million to its financing. This could bring the total EIB-managed investment to €360 million.

This project will make a significant contribution to two of the EIB Group's strategic priorities: climate action and improving and building social infrastructure tailored to people’s needs and fostering a just and efficient green transition.

The EIB has financed over €400 million of water-related projects in Spain so far in 2024, renovating or installing 2 000 km of pipes and other drinking water infrastructure.

Improvements to water treatment plants and water supply in the province of Barcelona

The EIB-financed project includes work to renovate and improve the Ter and Llobregat water treatment plants. The main goal of the Ter plant work is to reduce the flow of water treated by the plant to mitigate the effect of climate change on the river Ter. This reduction in the flow of water to be treated and increasingly frequent episodes of irregular rainfall mean that the plant’s treatment methods must be adapted to traditional surface water treatment for Mediterranean climates.

Improvements to the Llobregat plant aim to expand its production capacity to safeguard the water supply for the Barcelona metropolitan area.

During their official visit to Barcelona on 28 October, EIB Group President Nadia Calviño and President of the Government of Catalonia Salvador Illa toured the EIB-financed works being carried out on the Trinitat distribution station in the city. Joining them were the Minister for Planning, Housing and the Green Transition of the Government of Catalonia Silvia Paneque and ATL Director David Vila. Trinitat is a distribution station for drinking water that comes from the river Ter treatment plant in Cardedeu, and provides more than 50% of the Barcelona metropolitan area’s drinking water.

Background information

EIB

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It finances investments that contribute to EU public policy goals, fostering competitiveness, innovation, sustainable development, and social and territorial cohesion, and promoting a just transition to climate neutrality.

The European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group), consisting of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF), reported total financing signatures in Spain of €11.4 billion in 2023, approximately €6.8 billion of which went to climate action and environmental sustainability projects. Overall, the EIB Group signed €88 billion in new financing in 2023.

About ATL

ATL is a public sector company under the auspices of the Government of Catalonia, created under Decree Law 4 of 17 July 2018, via which the Government of Catalonia assumed direct control of the high-level water supply service. It serves 5.5 million residents, producing an average of 6 m³/s of water every day. ATL uses water from six reservoirs: La Baells, Llosa del Cavall and Sant Ponç in the Llobregat basin, and Sau, Susqueda and Pasteral in the Ter basin.

It also uses desalinated sea water from the Llobregat (El Prat de Llobregat) and Tordera (Blanes) plants.

ATL manages five water production plants: three river water treatment plants with production capacities of 8 m³/s, 3.2 m³/s and 0.35 m³/s, and two desalination plants with production capacities of 2 m³/s and 0.6 m³/s.

It supplies drinking water directly to 117 municipalities in nine districts: Alt Penedès, Anoia, Baix Llobregat, Barcelonès, Garraf, Maresme, La Selva, Solsonès, Vallès Oriental and Occidental. ATL network performance was 98.2% in 2023.