Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB) currently maintains 2,400 surveillance points to help curb rodent populations in the city, 2,200 of them in the public sewerage network and a further 200 in public spaces on the ground. The number of people working on the ground with Urban Pest Surveillance and Control Service (SVIPLA) has now been increased for the first time, from 31 to 47.

Besides these monitoring points, the city currently also has 1,500 active control points (900 in the public sewerage network and 600 on the ground). These are installed in response to incidents reported by members of the public and are regularly checked until the incident is considered as resolved.

The arrival of the good weather and the hot months brings greater rodent presence and activity with it, to the point where 75% of reported incidents occur during this period.

This year’s pest surveillance and control programme for public streets, the public sewerage network, public land and more than 800 municipal facilities has a budget of 2.92 million euros, representing a 44% increase compared to the 2.03 million allocated to it last year.

The extra resources some within the context of the Cuidem Barcelona Plan to bolster the prevention of murids in the city. The number of murid-related incidents reported by the public in the last three years has remained quite stable, although the number of cases where action is taken has continued to increase.

In the period from January to May 2020, some 800 incidents were reported and 6,093 actions taken, compared to 708 incidents and 6,133 actions in 2021 and 755 incidents and 10,102 actions so far in 2022.

The ASPB reminds people that factors such as the presence of food, water and shelter can lead to rats becoming established and proliferating. Hence small considerations such as not leaving scraps of food in streets and parks, using litter bins and waste containers properly and not generating food waste from feeding other species are very useful for avoiding their presence and helping keep them under control.

Barcelona is the first and only city in the Spanish state with an estimate of the rat population in the public sewerage system, thanks to a pioneering tool from the ASPB as part of the BCNRats project, launched in 2016. The estimated rat population in the city’s sewerage network is around 259,000 individuals.

Citizens can easily report the presence of rats and mice in public space by calling the freephone number 010, in person at Citizen Help and Information Offices (OAC) or virtually, using online action services or the app Barcelona a la butxaca.