From the Spanish Blue Community Asociación Española de Operadores Públicos de Abastecimiento y Saneamiento – Spanish Association of Public Water Supply and Sanitation Operators (AEOPAS):
We must adopt new initiatives to mitigate droughts.
AEOPAS’s public operators are committed to addressing critical drought-related issues, recognising the importance of planning and anticipation in this regard.
AEOPAS emphasises the importance of seizing the current favourable recovery context to prepare for future droughts, which are becoming increasingly frequent and intense due to climate change. To this end, the report proposes various strategic measures, such as developing and implementing municipal drought emergency plans urgently, especially in towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants, and promoting integrated, proactive urban water management.
AEOPAS also highlights the urgent need to invest in small and medium-sized municipalities through mechanisms that finance 100% of actions to improve water infrastructure. This investment is conditional upon the establishment of equitable tariff structures with the capacity to maintain supply and sanitation systems in the long term.
AEOPAS also calls for a specific European Directive on Drought to harmonise and coordinate water management, allowing for standardised planning and the establishment of indicators for adapting to the new circumstances brought about by climate change.
AEOPAS also highlights the urgent need to implement a national plan to combat water losses, given that Spanish municipalities tend to record average losses of between 25% and 50%. This emphasises the critical state of water efficiency and the necessity for immediate intervention. As the drought has shown, it is counterproductive to create new water catchments or invest in desalination or regeneration if a significant proportion of these water resources are lost through leaks in the network. This is why AEOPAS is collaborating closely with the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge to establish structural leakage indices and collect relevant information.
The urgent need to implement a national plan to reduce water losses is also emphasised, given that Spanish municipalities tend to record average losses of between 25% and 50%. This highlights the critical state of water efficiency and the urgent need for intervention. As the drought has shown, it is counterproductive to create new water catchments or invest in desalination or regeneration if a significant proportion of these water resources are lost through leaks in the network. This is why AEOPAS is collaborating closely with the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge to establish Structural Leakage Indices and gather data from public water operators.
AEOPAS also calls for the establishment of a State Drought Observatory, which would coordinate joint action between administrations and help to anticipate future water crises. This would maximise efficiency in resource management and reduce the social and economic impacts of droughts.
The association concludes by emphasising that ‘droughts are managed with full reservoirs’, underlining the importance of taking action now to mitigate the effects of future droughts and ensure the sustainability and resilience of the entire water cycle.
Finally, Luis Babiano, the manager of AEOPAS from Alhaurín el Grande in Málaga, where an important colloquium on water management is taking place, pointed out:
“We must remember something obvious: although climate change is centred on CO₂, the main social impacts of climate change, particularly on vulnerable people, occur around the water cycle due to extreme events such as droughts and floods. Europe, and Spain in particular, are good examples of this. We have made great strides in the energy transition, but little progress in the water transition.”
