Servicios de Abastecimiento y Saneamiento - La Tribuna del Agua

WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION SERVICES
Conclusions
A principle that cannot be waived is that “the
right to water and sanitation is fundamental to
ensuring the basic right to life”.
Available resources are being reduced by growing
demand and because climate change impacts.
Improving efficiency in all water systems must
be an alternative to be considered prior to mobilising
resources, but no option should be excluded
if it is sustainable. Alternative resources imply
changes in the water paradigm and energy use
and should be valued equally, though their acceptance
by society needs to be stimulated.
Urban growth of land and the increase in
city populations is making it ever more difficult to
combine supply and demand and is concentrating
the effects on water bodies.
The environmental viability of water supply
and its treatment must be ensured first before
promoting sustainable urbanisation.
Regulatory, institutional or technical capacity
shortages or difficulties in governing water make
it very difficult to efficiently or effectively satisfy
citizens’ expectations regarding these services.
Despite this, there are many and varied examples
of services running well.
Water is a resource common to all and as such
is a matter of State.
Public participation is a key factor in water policy.
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POSITIONING DOCUMENT
The decentralisation of authority should not
mean abandoning global coordination either at
state level or in the sphere of natural water government
– as referred to in planning and managing
water resources – that is the Water Basin.
It is necessary to clarify and respect the role
of each player involved in the water management
and supply and sanitation services.
What is important is not the public, private or
mixed model chosen for management but that the
service provided is good with an adequate price.
If there is no feasible long-term funding
which is recoverable for the investing party – whether
public, private or mixed – then good intentions
to ensure the right of access to water will
be useless.
It is of no use to implement services whose prices
cannot be afforded by users. The prices must
be adapted to the specific circumstances of each
place.
It is necessary to organise the complete and
sustainable recovery of costs.
Planning and management of urban water
services must be examined through an integrated
focus on the environmental, energy, economic
and social implications and from the perspective
of sustainable global efficiency.