Municipalities with public water management have fewer leaks, according to a Spanish study based on a hundred hydraulic efficiency audits published by the ACA.
In Spain, a country increasingly accustomed to long droughts, every drop counts. For this reason, three entities in Catalonia – Enginyeria Sense Fronteres, Aigua és Vida and the Association of Municipalities and Entities for Public Water (AMAP) – wanted to know which water management model is most efficient.
To do this, they have analyzed the results of 119 hydraulic efficiency audits published by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA). These are reports that water companies with more than 5,000 subscribers are required to make public every two years and that respond to common criteria. Therefore, they allow comparisons to be made . These 119 services cover 81% of the Catalan population.
The results conclude that public water management presents better hydraulic efficiency results and, therefore, “dismantle the usual argument used to opt for private management of this service,” according to Dante Maschio , spokesperson for Engineering Without Borders and Water is Life.
“The demand we make to this government is that it commits to a model that offers cheaper rates, that is more transparent and that from today we demonstrate that it is also more efficient. Losing fewer liters of water through leaks in a context of climate crisis is very important.”
Internationally recognized indicators analyzed
Four indicators have been analyzed in the study . One is the Structural Leakage Index (SLI), an indicator used internationally in the analysis of the efficiency of supply networks, as it takes into account the actual losses, the length of the network, the number of connections and the average operating pressure.
Values below 4 are acceptable , but exceeding it requires urgent action to reduce leakage. In this case, the report determines that public operators obtain a 3.8 and private operators a 4.6.
Water losses per connection have also been analyzed : 184 liters in the case of public water companies and 253 in the case of private ones. The same applies to the actual losses per kilometer of network.
Of the four indicators analyzed, public management scores better in three. Only in one factor are the results quite similar , although slightly better in the case of private operators.
This is the Unregistered Water (ANR) , an indicator that records the percentage of unregistered water over the total volume entering the service. This is due to leaks, meter errors or fraud by some customers. Public operators obtain 20.4% and private operators 19.8%.
526 municipalities have public water management
Currently, there are 526 municipalities in the country with a 100% publicly managed water service. However, many of these are small towns and this means that they only represent 22% of the Catalan population . Terrassa is a rare bird in the sector.
One of the municipalities that obtains the best marks in hydraulic efficiency audits is Barberà del Vallès . Until 10 years ago there was a mixed company, and since then the public company SABEMSA has been responsible for the comprehensive management of the water cycle .
They dedicate great economic efforts to maintenance, digitalization and the renovation of pipes with more resistant materials . And this helps them to have only 1.2% leakage losses . Xavier Garcés is the mayor of the municipality:
“We are one of the municipalities with the least water losses in Catalonia. We are very happy with this efficiency. It is very important that the talent of specialized engineers and technicians is 100% public.”
The company’s manager , Brauli Moreno , recommends that municipalities opt for this public water management model:
“The part that private companies allocate to giving dividends to shareholders, we can dedicate to network investment. And the neighbors appreciate that.”
The Catalan Water Agency has an advisory service for municipalities that want to take the step.
Source: 3CAT (Catalan language)
