Seville Provincial Council and Aeopas join forces to promote an efficient and supportive public model.
In a joint effort to address the challenges of climate change and water management, the Diputación de Sevilla (Seville Provincial Council) and the Spanish Blue Community Association of Public Water and Sewerage Companies (Aeopas) held an important meeting at the Diputación’s headquarters. Chaired by Javier Fernández, President of the Diputación of Seville, and Francisco Buenavista, President of Aeopas and Deputy Delegate of the Promedio Consortium of the Diputación of Badajoz, the meeting focused on strengthening investment and public water management. This meeting highlights the importance of an efficient and supportive model for dealing with droughts and extreme weather phenomena, with the aim of making water a vector of progress for all the municipalities in the province.
Following the meeting of the Board of Directors of Aeopas, which presides over the Promedio Consortium of the Provincial Council of Badajoz, held at the headquarters of the Diputación of Seville, the President of the Diputación of Seville, Javier Fernández, the Councillor for Supra-Municipal Public Services, Gonzalo Dominguez, and the President of the Association of Public Water Supply and Sanitation Companies (Aeopas) and Deputy Delegate of the Promedio Consortium of the Provincial Council of Badajoz, Francisco Buenavista, met to work together to “strengthen investment in public water management as an effective model for dealing with droughts and extreme weather events”, have met to work hand in hand to “strengthen” investment and public water management as an “effective” model for responding to droughts and “extreme” weather phenomena that are currently affecting water supply and sanitation, Francisco Buenavista, have met to work hand in hand to “strengthen” investment and public water management as an “effective” model for responding to droughts and “extreme” weather phenomena that are currently affecting water supply and sanitation, as a result of climate change.
During the meeting between the two institutions, he stressed that the province of Seville, among others, has two major interrelated challenges: rural depopulation and water management; “2025 must be a year of change in the creation of an effective and supportive public provincial model that allows water to be a vector of progress in all municipalities”, and for this they have the technical support of associations such as Aeopas. In this sense, both institutions have agreed to work on the following axes
Promote the integration of inter-municipal systems by involving the municipalities that are not yet integrated. Creating and strengthening this model means not only taking advantage of economies of scale (better services at a lower price), but also redistributing costs between the citizens of large and small towns, and creating a resilient model in the face of droughts.
In the urban sector, there are some successful examples where public water utilities have taken decisive steps to respond to the obligations arising from the principles of universality, availability, equity and non-discrimination, quality, accessibility, affordability and sustainability inherent in the human right to water. Incentives for conservation have been developed through the individualisation of meters, tariff systems that reward efficiency and penalise high consumption, a very significant reduction in uncontrolled water (“losses”), public information and participation, planning for droughts and emergencies, and awareness of climate change. These experiences provide a reference point for improving water management.
In this sense, the drought and flood contingency plans should not be simple operational plans, but should be transformed into a real planning of how the water cycle management systems, the municipalities and their inhabitants should adapt to this climatic phenomenon.
Situations such as drought management, as in the case of Aguas del Huesna, Aljarafesa or the Promedio system, which prevented supply cuts during these drought years, could not have been managed with such efficiency without the prior preparation of municipal drought management plans, coordinated with the drought management plans of the basin organisations.
Finally, municipalities have to make the necessary investments to meet quality and reliability requirements, both in terms of supply and sanitation in our cities. For example, the renewal of networks is far from the rate required to guarantee their efficiency. The average lifespan of our networks is very long and their renewal should be a priority on the political agenda, which is why the two institutions will join forces to raise awareness of the importance of these underground infrastructures, which are not always visible to the public.
