Water supply and sanitation in Spain

Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... : 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)	157
Average urban domestic water and sewer bill	Euro 227/year
Share of household metering	n/a
Non-revenue water Non-revenue water Non revenue water is water that has been produced and is “lost” before it reaches the customer. Losses can be real losses or apparent losses . High levels of NRW are detrimental to the financial viability of water utilities, as well to the quality of water itself...	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

Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...

and sanitation

Sanitation

Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...

in Spain is characterized by universal access and generally good service quality, while tariffs are among the lowest in the EU. Almost half of the population is served by private or mixed private-public water companies which operate under concession contracts with municipalities. The largest of the private water companies, with a market share of about 50% of the private concessions, is Aguas de Barcelona (Agbar). However, the large cities are all served by public companies, except Barcelona and Valencia. The largest public municipal company is Canal de Isabel II

Canal de Isabel II

Canal de Isabel II is the public company that manages the water supplies for Madrid, Spain. It is owned by the Autonomous Community of Madrid.The Y in the abbreviation is from the old spelling Ysabel.- External links :*...

that serves the metropolitan area of Madrid.

Droughts affect water supply in Southern Spain, which increasingly is turning towards seawater desalination to meet its water needs.

Access

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 systems such as septic tanks.

Service quality

In 2009 the consumer organization OCU analyzed the presence of six pollutants in drinking water in 64 cities and towns. The pollutants were trihalomethane

Trihalomethane

Trihalomethanes are chemical compounds in which three of the four hydrogen atoms of methane are replaced by halogen atoms. Many trihalomethanes find uses in industry as solvents or refrigerants. THMs are also environmental pollutants, and many are considered carcinogenic...

, volatile organic compound

Volatile organic compound

Volatile organic compounds are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary, room-temperature conditions. Their high vapor pressure results from a low boiling point, which causes large numbers of molecules to evaporate or sublimate from the liquid or solid form of the compound and...

s, pesticides, nitrate

Nitrate

The nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a...

, boron

Boron

Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...

and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons , also known as poly-aromatic hydrocarbons or polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, are potent atmospheric pollutants that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents. Naphthalene is the simplest example of a PAH...

. The analysis showed that drinking water had improved since the last report by OCU on drinking water in 2006. Problems were encountered only in Orense (trihalomethane) and in Girona

Girona

Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...

(pesticides).

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

Drinking Water Quality

Concerning wastewater treatment, in 2005 77% of municipal wastewater was treated in accordance with standards set by the EU.

Links to water resources

Southern Spain regularly suffers from severe droughts. The National Hydrological Plan (PHN by its Spanish acronym, from Plan Hidrológico Nacional) 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.

Data about water sources and use vary according to the source of information. According to the utility association ASOAGA about 74% of municipal water supply originates in surface water, only 19% in groundwater and 7% in springs and desalination. However, according to a 2007 survey by the National Statistical Institute 63% of the water distributed by utilities came from surface water, 33% from groundwater and 4% from other sources such as desalination. According to the utility association ASOAGA water use is about 280 liter per capita and day (l/c/d). This figure may include non-revenue water

Non-revenue water

Non revenue water is water that has been produced and is “lost” before it reaches the customer. Losses can be real losses or apparent losses . High levels of NRW are detrimental to the financial viability of water utilities, as well to the quality of water itself...

. A survey by the International Water Association

International Water Association

The International Water Association is a self-governing non-profit organization which aims to cover all facets of the water cycle. The body is headquartered in London, with a global secreteriat based in The Hague and offices in Beijing, Bucharest, Nairobi, Singapore and Washington DC.The group's...

(IWA) in four Spanish 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. The National Statistical Institute gives an average water consumption of 157 l/c/d, varying between 125 l/c/d in the Basque country to 189 l/c/d in Cantabria.

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

Policy and regulation

A cornerstone of the legal framework for water supply and sanitation is the 1985 Water Law (Ley 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. There are a total of 15 Basin Agencies in Spain for rivers that flow through more than one autonomous community

Autonomous communities of Spain

An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...

. If a river runs entirely within the territory of an autonomous community the water administration of the respective autonomous community, instead of one of the basin agencies, is in charge of managing its water resources. This is the case in Galicia, Cataluña, the Balearic Islands

Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...

, the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

, the Basque country

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

and Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

.

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

Service provision is the responsibility of the more than 8,000 municipalities of Spain. Municipalities can provide services directly or through a municipal public company (54% of market share), or through concession

Concession (contract)

A concession is a business operated under a contract or license associated with a degree of exclusivity in business within a certain geographical area. For example, sports arenas or public parks may have concession stands. Many department stores contain numerous concessions operated by other...

s to a mixed public-private company (13%) or a private company (33%). In some cities water supply is the responsibility of a company, while sanitation services are provided directly by the municipality. This is the case, for example, in Barcelona and was the case in Madrid until 2008.

The main water service provider in Spain is Aguas de Barcelona (Agbar), a private company that provides water services to about 13 million people in more than 1,000 localities under concession contracts. Sewer services are provided to 8.25 million people in 365 localities, and wastewater treatment is carried out for 9.3 million people in 445 localities. The largest public water company is Canal Isabel II that serves the metropolitan area of Madrid.

History and recent developments

Note: This section remains to be developed.

Spain was one of the first countries in the world to create river basin agencies through a Royal Decree-Law published in 1926. The first river basin agencies (Confederaciones Hidrográficas) were created in the Ebro

Ebro

The Ebro or Ebre is one of the most important rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. It is the biggest river by discharge volume in Spain.The Ebro flows through the following cities:*Reinosa in Cantabria.*Miranda de Ebro in Castile and León....

basin and in the Segura

Segura

Segura is a medium-sized river in southeastern Spain.It starts at Santiago Pontones , passes Calasparra, Cieza, Murcia, Beniaján, Orihuela, Rojales and ends in the Mediterranean Sea near Guardamar del Segura in the province of Alicante...

basin in 1926, followed by the Guadalquivir

Guadalquivir

The Guadalquivir is the fifth longest river in the Iberian peninsula and the second longest river to be its whole length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is 657 kilometers long and drains an area of about 58,000 square kilometers...

in 1927 and the Eastern Pyrenees

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

in 1929. Until 1961 basin agencies were created in the entire country.

Efficiency

A survey by the National Statistical Institute estimates the avereage level of non-revenue water

Non-revenue water

at 24% 2007, including real (physical) losses of 16% and apparent losses due to undermetering and other factors of 8%.

Tariffs and cost recovery

Tariff level. A survey commissioned by the utility association AEAS in 2009 showed that the average tariff

Water tariff

A water tariff is a price assigned to water supplied by a public utility through a piped network to its customers. The term is also often applied to wastewater tariffs...

for water supply and sanitation was Euro 1.50/m3. On average, industrial users paid Euro 1.81/m3 and residential users Euro 1.40/m3. This is one of the lowest water tariffs in the EU. There are large variations between cities and regions. The province with the highest average tariff are the Balearic Islands (Euro 2.65/m3) and the region with the lowest is Lugo

Lugo (province)

Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the north by the Cantabrian Sea .The population is 356,595 , of...

(Euro 0.61/m3). The study commissioned by AEAS wants to shed light on the actual cost of water and make citizens aware of the need to pay the full costs of this service. According to a survey carried out in 2009 by the Spanish consumer organization OCU the water bill was slightly higher than in the ANEAS survey at Euro 227 per year for a water consumption of 175 m³. However, the survey shows a slightly lower average water and sewer tariff at Euro 1.30/m3. The OCU survey also shows that annual bills vary substantially between cities, ranging from 112 to 413 Euro per year. According to another survey, an international water tariff survey by the International Water Association

International Water Association

(IWA), the annual water and sewer bill of a household using 200 m³ per year was US$ 300 per year, or US$ 25 per month. This was the second lowest bill among 12 EU countries included in the survey.

Affordability. The AEAS study says that a cup of coffee costs as much as 2.3 days of water supply. The average water and sanitation bill of Euro 191 per year accounts for only 0.6% of household expenditures.

Tariff structure. 92% of Spanish cities used increasing-block tariffs, i.e. the tariff per cubic meter increases as consumption increases. Many cities had a large fixed fee that included a consumption of between 60 and 180 cubic meter per year, thus providing no financial incentive to save water below this level.

Cost recovery. The Ministry of Environment estimates the cost recovery for water supply and sanitation at "between 50% and 90%". However, independent sources estimate it to be as low as 30%.

Investment and financing

Investment. 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. However, the industry association AGA estimates investments by its members, which supply water to 75% of the population, at "more than €290 million" annually.

Financing. The European Union is a major financier of the Spanish water and sanitation sector, both through grants by the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

and through loans from the European Investment Bank

European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank is the European Union's long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. A policy-driven bank, the EIB supports the EU’s priority objectives, especially European integration and the development of economically weak regions...

. Between 1986 and 2008 Spain received Euro 21 billion in EU funding for water infrastructure. However, European funding to Spain is set to fall by 40% in the period to 2013, compared with 2000-2016. "Europe's generosity has contributed to the unsustainability of the Spanish water sector's economic model", says Enrique Cabrera of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia.

External links

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