Water supply and sanitation in Spain: Difference between revisions

Spain: Water and Sanitation
Data
Water coverage (broad definition)	100%
Sanitation coverage (broad definition)	100%
Continuity of supply (%)	n/a
Average urban water use (l/c/d)	180
Average urban domestic water and sewer bill for 20m3	US$ 25/month
Share of household metering	n/a
Non-revenue water	n/a
Share of collected wastewater treated	77% (2005)
Annual investment in WSS	n/a
Share of self-financing by utilities	n/a
Share of tax-financing	n/a
Share of external financing	0%
Institutions
Decentralization to municipalities	Full
National water and sanitation company	None
Water and sanitation regulator	None
Responsibility for policy setting	Not clearly defined
Sector law	None
Number of service providers	n/a

Water supply and sanitation in Spain is characterized by universal access, but also by limited service quality and poor levels of cost recovery. The majority of the population is served by a single private water company, Aguas de Barcelona, which operates under concession contracts with municipalities. Droughts affect water supply in Southern Spain, which increasingly is turning towards seawater desalination to meet its water needs.

Access to water supply and sanitation in Spain is universal. 98% of the urban population and 93% of the rural population is connected to sewers, while the remainder is served by on-site sanitation solutionts such as septic tanks.

Information on drinking water quality in Spain can be found at the following website of the Ministry of Health (in Spanish):

Drinking Water Quality

According to a blog posted on "Sustainable Spain", after rainstorms in some cities the water almost always comes out of the tap filthy and full of grit. Most people wouldn’t think of drinking the tapwater. Nearly everyone buys bottled water, that involves mountains of plastic bottles, not to mention the transport costs. ^[1]

Concerning wastewater treatment, in 2005 77% of municipal wastewater was trated in accordance with standards set by the EU.^[2]

Southern Spain regularly suffers from severe droughts. The National Hydrological Plan (PNH by its Spanish acronym) foresaw substantial investments into the transfer of surface water from the Ebro River south to cities on the Mediterranean coast. However, in 2004 these plans have been shelved by the newly elected Spanish government in favor of seawater desalination, adding to 700 existing desalination plants.^[3]

About 74% of municipal water supply origiantes in surface water, only 19% in surface water and 7% in springs and desalination. Data about average water vary according to the source. According to the utility association ASOAGA water use is about 280 liter per capita and day (l/c/d).^[4] However, a survey by the International Water Association (IWA) in four cities gives water use as between 169 l/c/d in Valencia and 192 l/c/d in Valencia, including industrial water use. These usage levels are similar to the average of OECD countries. ^[5]

About 20% of treated wastewater in Spain is being reused, primarily for irrigation and landscaping.^[6]

A cornerstone of the legal framework for water supply and sanitation is the 1985 Water Law (Legy de Aguas). Policy and regulation functions for water supply and sanitation are shared among various Ministries. For example, the Ministry of Environment is in charge of water resources management and the Ministry of Health is in charge of drinking water quality monitoring.

Basin Agencies (Confederaciones de Cuencas Hidrográficas) are in charge of planning, constructing and operating major water infrastructure such as dams; elaborating basin plans; setting water quality targets, as well as monitoring and enforcing them; granting permits to use water, as well as inspecting water facilities for which permits were granted; undertaking hydrological studies; and to provide advisory services to other entities at their request. Basin Agencies are headed by a President who is nominated by the Cabinet at the proposal of the Minister of Environment. Each agency has a Board, a user assembly and a council to ensure broad participation by various stakeholders in its decision-making process, both in planning and operations. ^[7] There are a total of 15 Basin Agencies in Spain for rivers that flow through more than one autonomous community. If a river runs entirely within the territory of an autonomous community the water administration of the respective autonomous community, instead of a basin agency, is in charge of managing its water resources. This is the case in Galicia, Cataluña, the Balear Islands, the Canary Islands, the Basque country and Andalusia.^[8]

While basin agencies do not provide water and sanitation services, they play an important role in determining the framework for the provision of such services.

Service provision is the responsibility of the more than 8,000 municipalities of Spain. Municipalities can provide services either directly, through a public company, or through concessions to either a mixed public-private company or a private company.^[9]

The main urban service provider in Spain is Aguas de Barcelona (Agbar), a private company that provides water and sanitation services to about 20 million people in more than 1,000 localities with a population between 1,000 and more than 3 million under concession contracts.^[10]

To be developed.

To be developed.

According to one source, water tariffs in Spain are the third lowest in Europe, at €1.28/m3. Municipal water costs nearly three times as much in Sweden or Denmark, where supplies are plentiful. Most Spanish households spend less than €15/month on water. ^[11] Another source gives the water tariff (without sanitation) as US$ 0.93/m3 in 2006. ^[12] Again another sources says the annual water and sewer bill of a household using 200 m3 per year was US$ 300 per year, or US$ 25 per month, one of the lowest in the EU.^[13]

A recent poll of 2000 by the BBVA Foundation reveals attitudes about water: that price should not rise and that the means of finding more water resources should take priority. ^[14]

According to a blog on "Sustainable Spain", Spain spends €6,330 million annually on the capture, transport and extraction of underground water, plus water distribution and sanitation. ^[15] However, the industry association AGA estimates investments by its members, which supply water to 75% of the population, at "more than €290 million" annually.^[16]

EU water policy

• Asociación Española de Abastecimientos de Agua y Saneamiento (AEAS)
• Asociación Española de Empresas Gestoras de los Servicios de Agua a Poblaciones (AGA)