Aura Vidal: “We view with concern the Government’s plan to not depend on rain”.
Aura Vidal is part of the Catalan organisations Enginyeria Sense Fronteres and Aigua és Vida, groups that fight for solutions to droughts and critical episodes. The year 2023 was marked by a very important drought that limited the lives of many people, and since then it has been necessary to study how the work has been carried out.
The associative network has already come to sit at the table with the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), a very important step towards democratising public access to water.
A year ago, Catalonia was suffering from drought, how are we doing now?
Although the recent rains have alleviated the pluviometric drought, water reserves in Catalonia’s internal basins remain at critical levels. They stand at 31% at the beginning of spring 2025, almost 20% below the average of the last five years.
This highlights the chronic water scarcity in Catalonia, where demand exceeds availability. It is therefore essential to reduce consumption and improve spatial planning.
“Failure to impose sanctions on those who violate restrictions weakens our efforts to ensure responsible use”.
How do you think the work has progressed since then?
The organisations that make up the Social Water Summit are concerned about the government’s plan to “move away from rain dependency”, which includes a strategy to produce 50% more water than is needed by 2030. This vision ignores the importance of reducing demand and opts for an unsustainable expansion of available water.
The new government plan prioritises the construction of large infrastructure such as desalination plants to increase water availability, without emphasising basic measures such as conservation and reuse. These should form the basis of sustainable water management.
The construction of desalination plants is useful, but also an expensive infrastructure. What is your assessment?
The government’s new plan focuses mainly on increasing water availability through infrastructure such as desalination plants, rather than promoting policies to save and reduce consumption.
The concern about the economic impact is obvious, as it has not been clarified how this will be financed or how it will affect the price of water. Otherwise, not imposing sanctions on those who do not comply with restrictions weakens our efforts to ensure responsible use. Without coercive measures, there is a risk that the water crisis will worsen in the future.
Currently, part of the water management is private, how does this affect the consumer?
According to Aigua és Vida, 80% of Catalans currently pay for their water from a private or mixed company. This has a direct impact on the costs borne by consumers.
A recent report by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) concludes that private water management increases the price of the bill by an average of 26%. Moreover, the price of water varies considerably from one municipality to another: in some towns and cities, the price is up to nine times higher than in others, a difference that can amount to more than 500 euros per year per household.
And what is the situation in the Barcelona metropolitan area?
Water is managed by the mixed company Aigües de Barcelona (AGBAR) and the bill has risen by 6% for the second year in a row. This company is 70% controlled by the multinational Agbar and 15% by Criteria Caixa, the investment arm of CaixaBank. Only 15% is owned by AMB, meaning that the public sector has limited influence over its management.
In addition, the AMB uses water from Ter-Llobregat, and the desalination plants at El Prat and La Tordera have been operating at almost 100% since the end of 2022. These infrastructures have very high costs due to the high energy consumption, both in their maintenance and in the transport of the water. This has a direct impact on the tariffs paid by consumers.
How does private water management affect citizens?
Private water management not only makes the bill more expensive for citizens, but also creates territorial inequalities in its price and limits public control over an essential good.
What is the status of water municipalisation?
In a context of high water privatisation in Catalonia, the trend towards remunicipalisation has gained momentum. Since 2010, 39 Catalan municipalities have taken back public water management, and 26 more are considering it in the coming years.
Unlike privatisation, which can take place at any time, remunicipalisation is only possible when the concession contract with the private company expires. This makes the process slow, but progressive and irreversible.
“Betting on a public model makes it possible to manage water according to social and environmental criteria”.
How can this be encouraged?
The end of a concession is an important opportunity for municipalities to rethink the management model they want to adopt. In many cases, opting for public management allows for more direct control over water and adapts its management to social and environmental criteria rather than private economic interests.
During the drought, several municipalities with public management demonstrated a greater ability to reduce water losses, improve network management and optimise resources. This contrasts with the private model, where companies seek to maximise profits. At a time of water crisis, entrusting water management to those who prioritise billing over sustainable management is a contradiction that needs to be corrected.
Do you have examples from outside the Barcelona area?
A prominent example of municipalisation is the case of Osona. In 2022, Onaigua was created, the first regional public company in Catalonia dedicated to water management. This initiative offers small municipalities a common structure to guarantee public control, transparency and collective decision-making on water.
In a climate emergency scenario, the recovery of public water management is not only a question of efficiency and sustainability, but also of democratic quality. Choosing a public model allows water to be managed according to social and environmental criteria, guaranteeing its fair and responsible use for future generations.
How are you working with other bodies to make your demands a reality?
Since the beginning of the drought, different organisations in Catalonia have seen the need to coordinate within the framework of the Social Water Summit, in order to work together on proposals that would address the situation of chronic water scarcity, always taking into account criteria of social and environmental justice.
Through the Social Summit, which has been working on a series of proposals to address water scarcity and drought in Catalonia, we have held meetings with the leadership of the Court of Audit and the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition. These meetings have provided a stable channel of communication with the new government, allowing us to monitor its actions and clarify doubts about its “not depending on the rain” plan.
