In the context of the recent Baku Summit and the devastating effects of the Isolated Depression at High Level (DANA), climate change has become a central topic of debate. Luis Babiano, director of the Spanish Blue Community Association of Public Water Supply and Sanitation Operators (AEOPAS), gave an interview and his perspective on how this global phenomenon is affecting water management in Spain.
How important is climate change in water management?
Climate change is the elephant in the room. We face radical transformations on the planet in the next 30 years, not in two centuries’ time. We need a new economic approach to determine what we do with water, among other things. The Isolated Depression at High Levels (DANA) weather event in the Mediterranean area resulted in the most destructive natural episode yet experienced in the 21st century in Spain, with torrential rains of up to 500 l/m2 in some areas around Valencia, flash floods, overflowing rivers and tornadoes. A dramatic episode that sends a clear message: climate change is already a reality and requires urgent mitigation measures.
And is that elephant in the room being taken seriously when it comes to making the necessary decisions in the area of water?
It is placed in the background, sometimes deep in the background. There is consensus that climate change exists and that it is caused by greenhouse gases and in particular by massive CO2 emissions. This drives mitigation actions to facilitate energy transition, which is the focus of almost all agreements and discussions, time frames, efforts, etc. And these actions are sometimes implemented without much success, because there are also powerful economic and financial incentives behind this energy transition. Water, however, is surprisingly left out of these incentives. We must bear in mind the obvious fact that although climate change is associated with the CO2 vector, the main social impacts, particularly on the most vulnerable, are related to the water vector, in the form of extreme droughts and floods. Europe, and of course Spain, provides strong evidence of this. We have made great progress in energy transition and little progress in water transition.
What should we do to advance this water transition in the urban sector?
A major regulatory effort to encourage planned investment is essential. As I have pointed out before, the elephant in the room is climate change: Spain is facing radical transformations. We need a new water management paradigm. To face climate change, it is necessary to promote a water transition and, to this end, the new water policy must be the result of broad social agreement based on solid scientific and technical foundations. At this point, the priority is to conduct a hydrological audit on the amount and status of concession rights, infrastructure status, effective use of the resource, water quality…, to provide the basis for a series of laws to address climate change and to stop the slash-and-burn policies on the public domain that greatly hinder our resilience. Water is a common good within the public domain and public authorities are obliged to provide drinking water services to all citizens.
Public management, which facilitates investment, planning and the consensus required to address this new reality, is the most commonly implemented model worldwide. It is the only model that enables profits from supply and sanitation services to be reinvested in the citizens, taking account of the short-, medium- and long-term effectiveness of the investment and not the capital gains of private shareholders, which are only possible because competition is impossible in the area of water services.
In Spain, amongst the countries most vulnerable to climate change, a regressive model that only serves to feed the municipal coffers is becoming more widespread. In this country, the privatization of our water services is permitted in exchange for disinvestment. The money that municipalities receive for the so-called concessionary fees is allocated to areas unrelated to the urban water cycle, such as the construction of traffic roundabouts, paid for by citizens through their water bills. It is vital to create an investment model where “money from water goes into water”. A simple enlightening fact is that water infrastructures are aging, with 41% of supply networks being over 30 years old and in urgent need of renewal. Urban water urgently requires increased investment to guarantee quality and sustainability and to address future challenges such as climate change.
Notice that in situations of serious risk, such as pandemics, DANAs, droughts, fires, etc., the State is always called upon to protect and aid with reconstruction. However, we fail to realise that climate change implies a structural risk, it multiplies the threats. In an area as essential as water, instead of committing firmly to the public sector, speculative mechanisms that generate insecurity are permitted. What people want in these situations of extreme risk is to guarantee the security that can only come from professional public management that does not seek to profit from these emergencies.
In recent years, public operators have made profound progress, for example, in the management of recent droughts, where we have been very active. Throughout history, our response has been very passive, with the only solution to drought being what could fall from the sky in the form of rain. And if it failed to come, we had no option but to wait. One “hydro-illogical” year followed another. But this is no longer the case. Institutions, public water operators and citizens are active water management agents. A simple example is the fact that in the metropolitan area of Seville, water consumption per capita per day has decreased from 190 litres in 1992 to 110 litres today.
Public water operators have opted to make drought plans and, in doing so, have wisely sought the opinion of citizens, with examples being Aguas de Cádiz, the towns in Seville managed by Aguas del Huesna, Chiclana de la Frontera, Puerto Real, Xabía and the municipalities in Cordoba managed by EMPROACSA. We have to adapt our management model to the society of today, a more demanding and qualified society that calls for more information and participation in decision-making. A society that demands accountability when things do not work. Little by little, a model is being constructed in which citizens are at the centre of the equation. Without awareness there will be no solution to the problem regardless of how many measures we adopt. To a large extent, public operators are achieving this through impactful awareness campaigns and, above all, through the participatory processes associated with the Special Drought Plans (PES). In other words, most public operators are managing this drought by adopting technical measures that have already been debated, agreed on and defended by citizens, who are now being offered a fundamental role in the process of drawing up these plans.
But this is not happening everywhere.
That’s true. This progress coexists with the precariousness of supply in many rural population centres which, despite functioning correctly in situations we incorrectly describe as ‘normal’, require immediate investment from regional governments, provincial councils and central government. Supporting the rural world implies the creation of public and professional supra-municipal formulas. A successful example of this is the creation of the Environmental Management (PROMEDIO) Consortium of the Provincial Council of Badajoz. Unfortunately, this an exception.
And the issue of floods…
Studies show that warming and poor urban management increase the impacts of flash floods, particularly in the Mediterranean region. The dramatic consequences and loss of life need to be prevented before such flooding occurs. We need to be aware of the consequences that climate change poses to the physical integrity and safety of citizens. This is why I believe it necessary to support municipalities in reviewing and redefining their urban models in order to minimise the impacts of floods on our towns and cities. Revising plans, developing sustainable urban drainage systems, implementing green infrastructures and nature-based solutions, such as wetlands and re-naturalised urban rivers, are some of the solutions proposed to adapt to climate change in terms of flood risk management. At the same time, local councils with over 20,000 inhabitants, as the public authorities closest to citizens, must be obliged to have their own municipal or supra-municipal (in the case of metropolitan areas) civil protection systems in place.
This policy should be complemented by the development of a citizen self-protection action plan through digital applications, education in schools… This entire interview shows that the main social impacts of climate change are related to the water vector, meaning that water must urgently become a priority issue on the economic, social and political agenda. For this reason, AEOPAS, in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), is currently in the final stages of drafting a “Guide for the Adaptation of the Urban Water Cycle to Climate Change, a manual aimed at municipalities and managers of the integrated urban water cycle”. The aim is to provide a clear and practical framework of action for the development of strategies and measures to adapt to the impacts already being experienced, which are expected to intensify in the coming decades. Therefore, taking account of the dimension of the effects of climate change in the area of the urban water cycle, the guide will provide the basis for developing adaptation plans in terms of water transition strategies.
