Changing geographies of water-related consumption: residential swimming pools in suburban Barcelona

Abstract

Swimming pools constitute an important part of the expanding suburban landscapes of many cities of southern Europe. Yet we know relatively little about their characteristics and especially about whether or not they capture a substantial part of urban water for the benefit of a few that could be used for other more essential tasks, especially in periods of scarcity. In this paper, taking the metropolitan region of Barcelona as a case study, we estimate the number of residential (private) swimming pools in this area, their characteristics and their water consumption. Our analysis is set against the context of important changes in the nature of the urbanisation process in Barcelona and in other southern European cities, namely the expansion of low-density growth and with this the expansion of outdoor water uses such as gardens planted with turf grass and swimming pools. However, results do not seem to support the assumption that swimming pools take a substantial part of the domestic water resources of the region or that they are a luxury affordable only by the very rich. Swimming pools represent little over 1 per cent of total domestic water consumption of the Barcelona region and they can be found in both higher and lower income municipalities. Nevertheless, swimming pools tend to be more often found in richer municipalities, which are also those observing higher per capita water consumption.a rea_961 67..75 * Per cent over all residential units. Lpd: litres per person per day Source: Own elaboration 70 Vidal et al.

Residential Tourism, Swimming Pools, and Water Demand in the Western Mediterranean

“…Data on depths were collected by means of ten interviews with managers of companies engaged in the sale and installation of swimming pools in Alicante, who provided information on the average size of their best-selling pools. After these interviews we estimated the average depth of pools at 1.5 m. This figure is similar to the one used in a study in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Vidal, Domene, and Saurí 2011) where the average depth was 1.4 m and also similar to other studies in France, where average depths stand between 1.2 and 1.6 m (Cartier and Svetchine 2006).…”

“…As said before, despite its relevance, quantifying pool water consumption has received little attention, mainly due to data and methodological difficulties (Hof and Wolf 2014). Pool water consumption can be estimated, however, using proxies like pool volume (Vidal, Domene, and Saurí 2011). In our case, the first step was to map the total surface area (m 2 ) of all swimming pools in the study area, differentiating by typology (single-family and community pool).…”

“…Hence, in per capita terms, the consumption of water in high-density urban areas is lower than in low-density urban areas because in the latter there might be an important presence of water-consuming features such as gardens and swimming pools (Vidal, Domene, and Saurí 2011). In semiarid and arid environments, gardens have become a large consumer of water, partly as a consequence of the proliferation of lawns (Fern andez, Ordov as, and Herrera 2011; Salvador, Bautista-Capetillo, and Play an 2011; Par es, March, and Saurí 2013) and the introduction of deciduous plants, which generate new urban natures many times with little resemblance to original seminatural ecosystems (Robbins 2012).…”

“…The lack of statistical data about pools in the world and in particular in Spain justifies the exploratory nature of this research. There are some studies on this topic, for example, in Arizona or California (Beard 2007;Gross and Lee 2013) and, concerning Spain, in Barcelona (Vidal, Domene, and Saurí 2011) and the Balearic Islands and Andalusia (Hof and Wolf 2014).…”

Jardines y patrones de ajardinamiento en las urbanizaciones del litoral de Alicante

“…En cambio, las especies autóctonas, no gozan de un estatus similar y tienden a ser sustituidas por las de clima atlántico (Domene y Saurí, 2003). Así, nos encontramos con jardines de tipo «atlántico», especialmente en los hogares donde vive la clase social más acomodada a pesar de la mala adaptación de esta vegetación al clima mediterráneo debido a sus altas necesidades hídricas (Vidal et al, 2011). En esta región, los jardines de este tipo consumen aproximadamente 40 hm 3 /año, lo que significa que la mitad del agua que se utiliza en el hogar en los meses de verano se destina para regarlo y más de un tercio del consumo anual de agua (Domene et al, 2005).…”