The Spanish Blue Community Aeopas chaired the water session of the World Forum on Local Economic Development.
The Spanish Blue Community ‘Association of Public Water Supply and Sanitation Companies’ (Aeopas) is participating in the sixth edition of the World Forum for Local Economic Development, which was held in Seville, Spain, from 1 to 4 April 2025. Specifically, Aeopas chaired the panel “Water management that builds cities”, focusing on the human right to water and sanitation, recognised by the United Nations, which includes guaranteeing basic access to drinking water and adequate sanitation for all.
The human right to water and sanitation has been translated into concrete initiatives at the local level, highlighting the notion of minimum vital supply: some public operators have included in their municipal by-laws the guarantee of a minimum amount of water per person per day, regardless of the ability to pay. These minimum vital supply policies – for example, guaranteeing around 100 litres per person per day, as recommended by the WHO and the UN – aim to ensure that no vulnerable family is deprived of water, thus making this human right a reality in our territories. These are early days, but they have a huge social impact and point the way to equitable and inclusive water management.
But when we talk about water in the 21st century, climate change emerges as the elephant in the room: a huge reality that affects everything but is sometimes difficult to address head-on. Climate-related extreme events are putting water systems to the test. There are recent and clear examples: the DANA that severely affected Valencia, leaving behind damaged infrastructure and supply problems; the intense drought in northern Italy, the worst in decades, which dried up emblematic canals in Venice; or the critically low river flows in northern Germany.
These once exceptional events are becoming more frequent, highlighting the vulnerability of our water sources. Prolonged droughts deplete reservoirs and aquifers, reducing drinking water supplies, while torrential rains and floods (such as DANA) can collapse sanitation infrastructure and contaminate water. In short, climate change places a double burden on the water cycle, reducing water availability in terms of quantity and compromising water quality, thereby jeopardising the safe supply of water to populations. In this forum, we will therefore address the urgency of adaptive water planning that takes into account future climate scenarios and makes extreme precautions to ensure supply under all circumstances.
Another focus of the debate was the scale of management. Larger urban areas often have strong municipal or metropolitan utilities, but what about rural and small communities? This is where inter-municipal services come into their own.
Of course, none of this will be possible without a determined public investment effort. Upgrading water infrastructure – from catchment to distribution and treatment – requires resources that many municipalities cannot afford, especially after years of budget cuts. This is where governments at regional, national and even European Union level need to step in. Financial support programmes, structural funds and reconstruction plans can and should provide resources to improve and adapt the water cycle. Investing in water is investing in public health, economic resilience and quality of life; for every euro invested, much higher costs associated with emergencies, loss of economic activity due to scarcity or pollution, and environmental degradation are avoided.
Finally, this debate is also part of a vision of participatory and transparent water management with strong citizen control. Aeopas argues that the management of water, as a common good essential to life, must be carried out with the greatest possible openness towards society. This implies several dimensions: on the one hand, total transparency of information (water quality, state of networks, pricing criteria, investments made, etc.) so that citizens know how the resource is managed and how their tariffs are used. On the other hand, real participation in decision-making: from public consultation processes in water planning to the inclusion of civil society representatives on the boards of public water companies or in citizens’ water observatories. Experience shows that community involvement leads to more equitable and effective management: awareness of responsible use is increased, solutions are better adapted to local needs, and trust in institutions is built.
The democratisation of water management is a guarantee of long-term sustainability because it fosters co-responsibility and a sense of water as a common heritage. In short, we advocate models in which water is not seen as a mere commodity or commercial service, but as a right and a common good, managed according to social, environmental and good governance criteria.
Luis Babiano, moderator of the round table and director of Aeopas, has invited the following panellists, whose knowledge and experience will enrich this discussion:
- Ángela Lara, Professor and Researcher at the University of Seville, expert in water management and climate change.
- Pedro Arrojo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to water and sanitation, international reference in the defence of water as a human right.
- Marcela Olivera, representative of the Blue Community and prominent activist for water as a common good, with extensive experience in citizens’ movements for the right to water.
- Jaime Morell, representative of the Provincial Council of Seville, who is familiar with the reality of water supply in rural communities and with inter-municipal initiatives in the province.
- Ruth Quevedo Fique, economist at the National University of Colombia and current Executive Director of the Regulatory Commission for Drinking Water and Basic Sanitation.
- Mounir Laymouri, Mayor of Tangier (Morocco), who will bring the vision of a large North African city facing similar water challenges.
- Álvaro Real, Director General of Infrastructures of the Regional Government of Andalusia, responsible for the planning and implementation of water investments at regional level.
