The Maresme Regional Council, which manages the upstream supply that comes from Aigües Ter Llobregat to supply the Town Halls, has the concession delegated to Aigües de Barcelona (Agbar) between Tordera and Arenys. The new Local Water Authority (ELA) will take advantage of the end of the concession to the multinational in June 2024 to boost the new service company and achieve greater benefits for users and the county councils.
The regional entity manages, through the company Simmar Serveis Integrals del Maresme SL, the discharged sanitation network throughout the region, with which it takes charge of the management of dirty water, sewage and treatment plants (Edar). that purify it and return it directly to the sea without providing new uses. Simmar is a mixed capital company, with 20% owned by the Regional Council. The new management system will make it possible to recycle, with a parallel network, the water to serve large consumers, such as industries, hotels or parks and gardens. Simmar’s concession also ends in June 2024.
According to a technical study, with an investment of 800,000 euros for a pilot test, the type of treatment to be promoted from the Mataró WWTP will be known to divert water to different uses: industrial, agriculture, public roads or irrigation. With this, a reduction in well extractions will be achieved and therefore the recovery of aquifers. Reclaimed water is the third component of the Cicle Integral de l’Aigua, which will be managed by the regional company, thus ensuring that a single entity manages everything related to water.
The new entity will project the reform of the damaged pipes and will offer the affected municipalities lines of subsidy or application of the expense in the rates, which will allow the work to be amortized, taking into account that the majority of water losses are produced by poor condition of the pipelines. These are actions that not all municipalities, on their own, can assume. In parallel, the possibility of incorporating low water management will also be offered to those municipalities that request it.
In order to have full control of the company, the Regional Council plans to dispose of 60% of the new company, while the remaining 40% will go to public bidding. The management will be carried out by a professional controller team that will report directly to the Regional Council.
