Mapping Urban Water Governance Models in the Spanish Mediterranean Coastline

Abstract

The heterogeneity of governance and management models of municipal water supply in the Spanish Mediterranean coastline has increased in recent decades. This diversity is explained by the increase of private companies responsible for the management of the local water service and the presence of supramunicipal public entities responsible for water catchment, treatment and distribution to the municipalities. Based on the review of the existing literature, the information available on the websites of the leading corporate groups in the water sector and contacting with councils, the companies and supramunicipal entities involved in the service of municipal water in the Mediterranean coastline have been identified. The objective of this work is to analyse the territorial presence of the main actors in the urban water management through its cartographic representation, as well as analyse its ownership and importance in terms of population supplied. This analysis shows a high presence of companies belonging to the AGBAR group that supply around half of the total population in the Spanish coastline municipalities. Likewise, there is a regional specialization of certain private companies that concentrate the urban water management for the most part of the coastline municipalities. This is the case of FACSA, which manages the water services in 87% of coastline municipalities in Castellón, or Hidraqua in Alicante, that operates in the 65%. Furthermore, the presence of large supramunicipal public entities is widespread along the coastline, especially in Catalonia and the southeast. In contrast, some municipalities of the Balearic Islands reflect a singular situation, characterized by the presence of several different companies within the same municipality, both public and private. In the light of these results, the urban water management in the Spanish Mediterranean coastline shows the dominance of the private sector, which is present in the 82% of the municipalities.