Corrosive flows, faulty materialities: Building the brine collector in the Llobregat River Basin, Catalonia

Santiago Gorostiza; Hug March; Marta Conde; David Sauri

doi:10.1177/25148486221105875

Corrosive flows, faulty materialities: Building the brine collector in the Llobregat River Basin, Catalonia

Santiago Gorostiza, Hug March, Marta Conde, David Sauri^*

^*Autor corresponent d’aquest treball

Producció científica: Contribució a revista › Article › Recerca › Avaluat per experts

6 Cites (Scopus)

Resum

La història de les infraestructures hidràuliques està plena de fracassos que sovint tenen conseqüències catastròfiques. Tot i que l'ús de l'aigua en desastres ha estat àmpliament documentat, són menys conegudes les substàncies presents a l'aigua com la sal que poden causar el col·lapse d'infraestructures i perjudicar els humans, la flora i la fauna. A la conca del riu Llobregat (Barcelona), una canonada de 12льx120 km transporta aigües residuals saturades en sals produïdes per les mines de potassa del centre de Catalunya al mar Mediterrani. Concebut com a solució tecnològica per reduir la salinització de l'aigua dels rius, el col·lector de salmorres va començar a funcionar el 1989 i ha aconseguit reduir a la meitat la concentració de sals en aigües fluvials. Tot i així, a mesura que augmentava l'extracció de potassa, el col·lector de salmorres aviat va assolir la seva capacitat total i es va tornar propens a fuites i trencaments que abocaven fluxos saturats en els rius i les terres adjacents. A més, la reducció de la salinitat assolida no era suficient per evitar la necessitat d'una tecnologia d'eliminació de sals per a les plantes d'aigua potable que subministraven Barcelona. El col·lector de salmorres entès com un sistema sociotècnic que reuneix components materials, discursius, organitzatius i institucionals va demostrar la fragilitat de les normes i regulacions adreçades a gestionar la contaminació per sals en la conca. Més fonamentalment, el conjunt constituït pel col·lector va mostrar com l'interjoc entre organitzacions privades (l'empresa minera) i públiques (l'agència regional d'aigua) ha resultat en un desplaçament reeixit dels impactes creats per les sals des de l'esfera privada a la pública en termes econòmics, sanitaris i ambientals.

Idioma original	Anglès
Pàgines (de-a)	57-76
Nombre de pàgines	20
Revista	Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space
Volum	8
Número	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486221105875
Estat de la publicació	Publicada - de febr. 2025

SDG de les Nacions Unides

Aquest resultat contribueix als següents objectius de desenvolupament sostenible.

ODG 3 – Bona salut i benestar
ODG 6 – Aigua potable i sanejament

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10.1177/25148486221105875Llicència: C In Copyright

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title = "Corrosive flows, faulty materialities: Building the brine collector in the Llobregat River Basin, Catalonia",

abstract = "The history of hydraulic infrastructures is plagued with failures often with catastrophic consequences. Although the agency of water in disasters has been widely documented less well known are the substances in water such as salt that may cause infrastructural collapse and harm humans, flora and fauna. In the Llobregat River Basin (Barcelona), a 120-km long pipe transports salt-saturated wastewaters produced in the potash mines of central Catalonia to the Mediterranean Sea. Conceived as a technological fix to reduce river water salinization, the brine collector started operating in 1989 and succeeded to cut by half the concentration of salts in river waters. However, as the extraction of potash salts increased the brine collector soon reached its full capacity and became prone to leaks and ruptures that poured salt-saturated flows into the rivers and adjacent lands. Moreover, the reduction in salinity achieved was not enough to prevent the need of salt-removing technology for the drinking water plants supplying Barcelona. The brine collector understood as a sociotechnical system assembling material, discursive, organizational, and institutional components proved the fragility of rules and regulations addressed to manage salt pollution in the basin. More fundamentally, the assemblage constituted by the collector showed how the interplay between private (the mining company) and public (the regional water agency) organizations has resulted in the successful shifting of impacts created by salt from the private to the public sphere in economic, health, and environmental terms.",

keywords = "assemblages, brine, Catalonia, Infrastructures, river pollution",

author = "Santiago Gorostiza and Hug March and Marta Conde and David Sauri",

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AU - March, Hug

AU - Conde, Marta

AU - Sauri, David

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.

PY - 2025/2

Y1 - 2025/2

N2 - The history of hydraulic infrastructures is plagued with failures often with catastrophic consequences. Although the agency of water in disasters has been widely documented less well known are the substances in water such as salt that may cause infrastructural collapse and harm humans, flora and fauna. In the Llobregat River Basin (Barcelona), a 120-km long pipe transports salt-saturated wastewaters produced in the potash mines of central Catalonia to the Mediterranean Sea. Conceived as a technological fix to reduce river water salinization, the brine collector started operating in 1989 and succeeded to cut by half the concentration of salts in river waters. However, as the extraction of potash salts increased the brine collector soon reached its full capacity and became prone to leaks and ruptures that poured salt-saturated flows into the rivers and adjacent lands. Moreover, the reduction in salinity achieved was not enough to prevent the need of salt-removing technology for the drinking water plants supplying Barcelona. The brine collector understood as a sociotechnical system assembling material, discursive, organizational, and institutional components proved the fragility of rules and regulations addressed to manage salt pollution in the basin. More fundamentally, the assemblage constituted by the collector showed how the interplay between private (the mining company) and public (the regional water agency) organizations has resulted in the successful shifting of impacts created by salt from the private to the public sphere in economic, health, and environmental terms.

AB - The history of hydraulic infrastructures is plagued with failures often with catastrophic consequences. Although the agency of water in disasters has been widely documented less well known are the substances in water such as salt that may cause infrastructural collapse and harm humans, flora and fauna. In the Llobregat River Basin (Barcelona), a 120-km long pipe transports salt-saturated wastewaters produced in the potash mines of central Catalonia to the Mediterranean Sea. Conceived as a technological fix to reduce river water salinization, the brine collector started operating in 1989 and succeeded to cut by half the concentration of salts in river waters. However, as the extraction of potash salts increased the brine collector soon reached its full capacity and became prone to leaks and ruptures that poured salt-saturated flows into the rivers and adjacent lands. Moreover, the reduction in salinity achieved was not enough to prevent the need of salt-removing technology for the drinking water plants supplying Barcelona. The brine collector understood as a sociotechnical system assembling material, discursive, organizational, and institutional components proved the fragility of rules and regulations addressed to manage salt pollution in the basin. More fundamentally, the assemblage constituted by the collector showed how the interplay between private (the mining company) and public (the regional water agency) organizations has resulted in the successful shifting of impacts created by salt from the private to the public sphere in economic, health, and environmental terms.

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KW - brine

KW - Catalonia

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KW - river pollution

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Corrosive flows, faulty materialities: Building the brine collector in the Llobregat River Basin, Catalonia

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