The Agbar Group has presented the projects promoted by the Advisory Council for Participation, Transparency and Social Action, a consultative body it created two years ago to address the challenges posed by water management, the climate emergency and the social crisis, and which will now be dissolved once its task is completed. Its work has been reflected in an extensive document that proposes different actions and projects to respond to the major recommendations that the council made a year ago to the company in environmental, economic and social matters. Among the most notable projects proposed by the group of experts is the creation of a hub of excellence in Barcelona on water management and the transformation of wastewater treatment plants into ecofactories, an innovative concept based on the principles of the circular economy.
"Agbar's Advisory Council has consolidated, over the last two years of work, as a space for deep debate and reflection, with an interdisciplinary vision that has guided us to further strengthen our commitment to the territory and citizens," says Agbar's president, Ángel Simón. Although the council has completed its task, Simón announces that Agbar, in the coming months, will organize a major debate day to be accountable to its different stakeholder groups and continue in the process of creating "spaces for dialogue and active listening."
There has been consensus among all of them to "highlight the need for public-private cooperation to guarantee an essential service such as water." The objective is to promote large alliances to achieve a greater impact of the projects, such as the creation of a hub in Barcelona focused on the water cycle: an ecosystem of innovation, technology, and training in alliance with the different Administrations and where startups, universities, and existing technological centers such as Cetaqua would also participate. "The hub becomes an opportunity to generate an exciting project that allows developing knowledge and technologies for sustainable water management and the circular economy, but also to contribute to social and economic reconstruction," says the group of experts.
Regarding ecofactories, Agbar's challenge is to replicate in the Barcelona metropolitan area the experience it has already accumulated in Santiago de Chile, where it has developed a pioneering model in the world in the application of the circular economy in facilities for wastewater treatment. The project consists of transforming the large wastewater treatment plant in El Prat de Llobregat into an ecofactory that will allow 100% of the treated water to be reused and 100% of the necessary energy to operate the treatment plant to be generated. Likewise, it is crucial to minimize the waste generated, such as sewage sludge, and to know how to give it an adequate use that does not impact the environment. Water reuse is a central element in the strategies that must be carried out to face the climate emergency and the growing scarcity of water resources.
In 2020, the Baix Llobregat treatment plant, managed by Aigües de Barcelona, already reached the capacity to regenerate 100% of the treated water and achieved 56% energy self-sufficiency. In waste management, the company participates in a European innovation project focused on generating biomethane from the sludge of the treatment plant. This biomethane could then be used as fuel in the buses of the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) fleet, thus reducing the consumption of fossil fuels in the public transport network.
9 billion projects for European funds
The advisory board document states that Agbar has identified 75 actions in water and environmental matters throughout Spain with an immediate social, environmental, and economic impact that could be financed with European funds. These projects have an estimated value of 9,000 million euros and could create up to 120,000 jobs.
Investments pending in the water cycle in Catalonia have also been analyzed, where a total investment need of 4,230 million in infrastructure is estimated. Of this figure, 826 million would have been executed, meaning that "up to the time of the analysis, only 20% of the real needs to guarantee the sustainability of the system in Catalonia are covered." These actions, highlights the Agbar report, could provide employment for 48,000 people.