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In accordance with the principles of transparency, the Agrupació de Serveis d’Aigua de Catalunya (ASAC) considers it necessary to clarify information, published using ACA data as a reference, about the fact that there are 25% of “water losses” in the supply networks of the Catalan municipalities, because the “average yield is 75%”.
Given these imprecise data that can generate misinformation, it must be specified that the average number of water leaks is approximately 10%, which also includes breakdowns caused by third-party works and maintenance purges. There are municipalities where losses are lower, such as the Barcelona metropolitan area, with only 6% leaks (an international benchmark). Excessive leaks are a direct consequence of the low rate of pipe renewal linked to tariffs —established by the municipalities— which in some cases are insufficient for correct maintenance of the networks.
If the different uses of water in Catalonia are taken into account, 70% corresponds to agricultural use and only 30% is urban and industrial use. Therefore, this 10% leak in the distribution networks represents only 3% of water losses with respect to global consumption, so that urban uses are the most efficient by far.
To calculate the “performance of the network”, it is necessary to consider, in addition to losses, other volumes of water actually consumed but not registered by the meters, which represent an average of 11.5%. Specifically, these are unmetered municipal uses, such as irrigation of parks and gardens, street cleaning, public fountains; consumption of fire hydrants where a meter cannot be placed for safety reasons; fraud, that is, illegal consumption by certain users, and submetering of metering devices, which over time do not record part of the consumption.
Thus, considering 11.5% of unrecorded consumption and 10% of leaks, the average performance of the networks in Catalonia is 78.5%, a figure better than the Spanish average (76.5% according to data from AEAS¹) and better than the European one (75% according to EUREAU²).
Although this figure is positive, climate change forces us to adapt to this reality of water scarcity and demands that administrations, citizens and companies continue working to improve the performance of the networks, through collaboration and co-responsibility with all the actors involved.
The Agrupació de Serveis d’Aigua de Catalunya (ASAC) is the most important professional association in the sector, which brings together public and private water companies in Catalonia. With 40 years of experience, ASAC represents citizens and companies that manage the water supply to more than 85% of the population.
References:
1 XVII National Study AEAS-AGA (December 2022), prepared by the Spanish Association of Water Supplies and Sanitation (AEAS) and the Spanish Association of Managing Companies of Water Services to Populations (AGA).
² Europe’s Water in Figures. An overview of the European drinking water and waste water sectors (2021), elaborado por EurEau.
