Transition models to municipal water management

In the last years, many of the important privatization processes for water management in the region and country came by the hand of accusations, complaints and sentences in courts.

Moreover, gaining force with every year, social movements claim for the takeover and require to public administration to take control of the water management.

In consequence, some of the bigger cities are rethinking the model that was running since decades in Catalonia and Spain and declare openly that they are for remunicipalization.

This round table gathers representatives of several municipalities (Catalonia, Spain and France) and members of associations and groups that defend this public model of water management.

Alfredo Vega from Ajuntament de Terrassa

First deputy of the Mayor. General Services and Open Government. He is the spokesperson of the municipal government and delegate councilor of: Organization and Human Resources; Economy and tribute management; Juridical Services; Tecnology, Transparency and Quality; Contracting and Patrimony; Information Systems and Citizen attention; Funerary Services and Cemetery and Water. He is also Member of the Government Committee and Spokesperson of Municipal Group of the Catalan Socialist Party Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya - Candidatura de Progrés (PSC-CP) a the spokesperson’s Committee.

Moisès Subirana from AMB on behalf of the Municipality of Barcelona

Technical Industrial Engineer highly involved in social and water issues. He worked first as assistant and afterwards as head of the campaign “Water a right not a merchandise” at Enginyeria Sense Fronteres (Engineers Without Borders).

Nowadays, he is the consultant at the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona on water, energy and waste management.

See his presentation!

María Sánchez from Ayuntamiento de Valladolid:

Graduate on Law at Universidad de Burgos and Master on Gender Equality and Politics at Universidad de Valladolid. She has been an active member of several social and ecologist organizations,  she was the local coordinator of Izquierda Unida Valladolid between 2008 and 2016, and works as project manager in a foundation towards equality of rights LGBT and in an ecologist association. She was first elected as city councilor of the municipality of Valladolid by Izquierda Unida in 2011 and again by Valladolid Toma la Palabra in 2015. Since then, she is city councilor of Environment and Sustainability.

Armelle Bernard, Deputy director for external relations and development from Eau de Paris

Deputy director for external relations and development at Eau de Paris, the public water company that supplies tap water for 3 million users daily in Paris. Graduate in human resources and administration management, Armelle has held several management positions in Parisian water related structures. Head of governance and communication of one of the 4 structures that merged to create Eau de Paris in 2009-2010, she took an active part in the prior studies and in the operational implementation of the water reform.

See her presentation!

 Enric Gornés, Head of Water and Sewage System Services from Aigües d'Arenys

Technical Civil Engineer at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2004). Member of Engineering without borders (ESF) since 2002 where he worked in different areas and had several responsibilities: He worked in El Salvador, he was responsible of the campaign “Water: a right not a merchandise”, he was member of the directive board of ESF and of the ISF Spanish Federation. Moreover, he is author of several articles and publications. He started to work in Aigües d’Arenys as head of water and Sewage System services when the municipality of Arenys de Munt took control of water management.

See his presentation!