Water Governance in Spain - National Water Agreement, Politechnical University of Madrid & Botín Foundation http://www.oecd.org/cfe/regional-policy/11th-meeting-of-the-oecd-water-governance-initiative.htm

1. Water Governance in Spain: challenges and
opportunities for the future
Alberto Garrido
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Water Observatory of the Botín Foundation
Zaragoza, November 13th, 2018

2. 1. Pacto Nacional del Agua -
An elusive question

3. 1. Pacto Nacional del Agua -
An elusive question
 Google findings with:
“Pacto Nacional del Agua España” 8,300,000 ítems
“Pacto Nacional del Agua”, 14,300,000 ítems
 Tremendous source of ideas a two-decade debate

4. 1. Pacto Nacional del Agua -
An elusive question

5. 1. Pacto Nacional del Agua -
An elusive question
"Water must be an authentic State policy“
"Water must be an authentic state policy, agreed upon, that
gives stability to management decisions beyond each planning
cycle and beyond changes in government“
 The “beyond” is clearly the Water Framework
Directive

6. 2. Principles supported by the OECD Water
Governance Initiative

7. 2. Principles supported by the OECD Water
Governance Initiative
THE OECD PRINCIPLES ON WATER GOVERNANCE
Principle 1. Clearly allocate and distinguish roles and responsibilities for water
policymaking, policy implementation, operational management and regulation, and
foster co-ordination across these responsible authorities.
Principle 2. Manage water at the appropriate scale(s) within integrated basin
governance systems to reflect local conditions, and foster co-ordination between
the different scales.
Principle 3. Encourage policy coherence through effective cross-sectoral co-
ordination, especially between policies for water and the environment, health,
energy, agriculture, industry, spatial planning and land use
Principle 4. Adapt the level of capacity of responsible authorities to the complexity
of water challenges to be met, and to the set of competencies required to carry out
their duties

8. 2. Principles supported by the OECD Water
Governance Initiative
THE OECD PRINCIPLES ON WATER GOVERNANCE
Principle 5. Produce, update, and share timely, consistent, comparable and policy-
relevant water and water-related data and information, and use it to guide, assess
and improve water policy
Principle 6. Ensure that governance arrangements help mobilise water finance and
allocate financial resources in an efficient, transparent and timely manner
Principle 7. Ensure that sound water management regulatory frameworks are
effectively implemented and enforced in pursuit of the public interest
Principle 8. Promote the adoption and implementation of innovative water
governance practices across responsible authorities, levels of government and
relevant stakeholders

9. 2. Principles supported by the OECD Water
Governance Initiative.
THE OECD PRINCIPLES ON WATER GOVERNANCE
Principle 9. Mainstream integrity and transparency practices across water
policies, water institutions and water governance frameworks for greater
accountability and trust in decision-making
Principle 10. Promote stakeholder engagement for informed and outcome-
oriented contributions to water policy design and implementation
Principle 11. Encourage water governance frameworks that help manage
trade-offs across water users, rural and urban areas, and generations
Principle 12. Promote regular monitoring and evaluation of water policy
and governance where appropriate, share the results with the public and make
adjustments when needed

10. 3. Reasons to be optimistic

11. 3. Reasons to be optimistic
Sept-2012

12. 3. Reasons to be optimistic
1. Political convergence
2. Water availability is becoming more scarce
– crises stimulate creativity and action
3. Technology and Artificial Intelligence
options
4. Agriculture: more efficient, consumption
reduced use
5. Strong scientific basis, datasets

13. 3. Reasons to be optimistic
6. Information transparency
7. Very good technical capacity in public
Water Administration
8. Citizens’ awareness about water scarcity
9. Active civil society
10.Enduring Water Law

14. 4. Reasons to be pessimistic

15. 4. Reasons to be pessimistic
THE OECD PRINCIPLES ON WATER GOVERNANCE
Principle 3. Encourage policy coherence
through effective cross-sectoral co-ordination,
especially between policies for water and the
environment, health, energy, agriculture,
industry, spatial planning and land use
 Unbalanced political power across all sectors and
interests
 Economic sectors prevail over environmental, spatial
planning and health issues

16. 4. Reasons to be pessimistic
Principle 4. Adapt the level of capacity of
responsible authorities to the complexity of
water challenges to be met, and to the set of
competencies required to carry out their duties

17. 4. Reasons to be pessimistic
THE OECD PRINCIPLES ON WATER GOVERNANCE
Principle 6. Ensure that governance arrangements
help mobilise water finance and allocate financial
resources in an efficient, transparent and timely
manner
Principle 7. Ensure that sound water
management regulatory frameworks are
effectively implemented and enforced in pursuit of
the public interest

18. 4. Reasons to be pessimistic
Inadequate
Regulatory fwk
Weak / poor
pricing schemes
Insufficient
investment
Insufficient
wastewater
treatment
Poor
environmental
improvement
As an illustration:
Wastewater
Treatment
mandatory standards
may be met, but the
ecological status of
the recipient water
bodies may not meet
the WFD goals

19. 5. Conclusions

20. 5. Conclusions
Combine Pragmatism….
- Focus only in areas of consensus and deliver results
- Focus on a few problems with wide social impact and
find solutions for them
- Form a National Water Agreement picking up what
others previously proposed that are worth
maintaining
- Evaluate measures and show their effectiveness

21. 5. Conclusions
….with a long-term vision
- Institutional and governance innovation
- Technological and information tools
- Educating society
- Smart communication
- Information transparency
- Ensure continuity of goals and projects

22. 5. Conclusions
Gracias
@garrido1964
alberto.garrido@upm.es