Servicios de Abastecimiento y Saneamiento - La Tribuna del Agua

WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION SERVICES
Introduction
Between July 15 and 18 2008 and within the
framework of the Water Tribune at EXPO ZARAGO-
ZA, the conferences on “Water Supply and Sanitation
Services” – coordinated by Francisco Cubillo
of Canal Isabel II – were held with the participation
of 42 speakers and nearly 400 experts on the
subject from over 32 countries. This representation
of people covered a broad spectrum of viewpoints,
knowledge, experiences and responsibilities which
contributed to interesting standings and to lively
and enriching debates and recommendations.
The common objective was that of dialogue,
joint reflection and identification of the main
challenges at present and in the future in the management
of urban water before, finally, pointing
out the possible solutions that could contribute to
sustainable use of the resource and efficient management
of supply and sanitation services. In particular,
the possibility othat all population worlwide
could truly have access to drinking water and to
sewage sanitation to complying with Millennium
Development Objectives – was also sought.
The week focused on analysing the problems
of providing water and sanitation services within
the urban environment as well as on identifying
solutions able to combine requisites being satisfied
with commitments to society, the standpoints
of sustainability and the search for efficiency in
complying with regulations set within the legal or
regulatory frameworks or simply within the goals
of good practices by those in charge of managing
these services.
The problem was examined according to a
structure featuring five main areas for analysis:
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POSITIONING DOCUMENT
The regulatory and institutional framework
of urban water services.
Society’s expectations and level of services.
Forum of good examples.
Technological capacity, conditioners and solutions.
Efficiency as a paradigm for the citizen, management
practices and development.
Participation and standpoints were characterised
by a diversity of positions, points of view and
experiences.
The analysis was undertaken with notable
reliance on experiences in current management,
featuring debates on good practices and examples
without shying from weak points, risks and the
great obstacles.
This included:
Experiences and standpoints of the institutions
and financial entities, of the regulatory bodies and
the regulated entities that operate under the different
models of either public or private management.
Initiatives and strategies from the international
agencies and the positions at national and
local levels within the broad panoply of existing
development levels around the world.
The position of the agencies that create the
environmental context in which they provide services
together with the objectives to be pursued
water resources planning and the different ways
to assign and share these resources, to the entities
that supply water, or the levels of spillage and
those responsible for cleaning up.