Climate change and water management, “a complex and urgent challenge” that requires a state pact

The Horizontes cycle, organised by Ayesa’s Innovation team and the Royal Sevillian Academy of Sciences, is holding its fourth and last conference on the planet and its sustainability.

Jorge Olcina, Professor of Regional Geographical Analysis at the University of Alicante, claims that climate change is influencing water planning, because rising temperatures are affecting the global atmospheric dynamics.

Experts from Enel and the Ministry of Transport and Ecological Transition highlight sustainability as an opportunity for growth and improvement.

The planet requires change in order to guarantee our current and future needs as a society while at the same time maintaining a certain level of development. In this regard, science, technology and engineering play a key role.

For Jorge Olcina, Professor of Regional Geographical Analysis at the University of Alicante, “climate change mitigation is moving slowly”, considering it “essential for politics to accompany science” along this road.

After the tragic events in Valencia due to the intensity of the last drought, which caused more than 200 deaths, the expert reaffirmed his thesis that “climate change and water management are two issues that will be at the centre of many public and private initiatives in the coming decades, because the global atmospheric dynamics are changing”.

As a result, “we are facing an increasingly extreme climate, with shorter but more intense droughts followed by torrential rainfall events. There are more frequent occurrences of these atmospheric structures and, if the water and land are warmer, the condensation processes are infused with more energy” he explained.

In this regard, he added that we must prepare for this new scenario. “We need to internalise the fact that Spain is a risk area and equip ourselves with guidelines on how to behave in emergency situations. The financial damage is going to get worse and it is essential to educate the population. Our climate is also losing thermal comfort, with more tropical nights and extreme weather events. We need efficient infrastructures, such as headwater dams, high-capacity sewer systems, rainwater reservoirs and systems for reusing treated water. Cities must become water generation hubs”.

Nevertheless, he was optimistic about the future: “we have intelligence, we have the technical capability and we have the funds. The solutions are complex but possible. And the public-private relationship is fundamental, and so is having a state vision and working hand in hand with science to guide the decision-making process”.

Climate change, an opportunity to change trends

In this vein, Francisco Javier Sánchez, deputy general manager of Water Protection and Risk Management of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, announced that a royal decree (RD) on the reuse of water has just been approved. “It is a sad fact that we throw away 4000 cubic hectometres into the sea every year when we have the technology. All we have to do is reach an agreement and invest”.

He went on to say that “through the recovery plan, we are trying to create an automatic hydrological information system (SAIH) 4.0, developing it to make predictions. The RD included the water management observatory in Spain, with a unique web portal to see all the data in real time from the basins managed by the ministry and the Autonomous Regions that have access to it”.

He concluded by emphasising that “we have to get all the administrations to work together”.

Antonio Muruais, deputy director of Sustainability and Innovation at the General Directorate of Roads of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, indicated that they are taking several measures such as calculating emissions and approving an energy efficiency strategy, in addition to the progressive change of the fleet to electric vehicles.

With regard to road construction, the main activity, he explained that they are developing an environmental price bank, so that project planners will be able to calculate and translate it into works contracts, with the aim of assessing environmental issues. He also mentioned that a second tender will be launched to introduce technology in road surface construction.

Ricardo Pérez, Head of Global Sustainability at Enel Grids and Innovation, stressed that “we have always strived to talk about sustainability as a competitive advantage. The percentage of ESG investors has been steadily increasing. And in the end there is an attraction component of the financial system”.

He also said that in 2017 his company estimated total emissions of 190 million tonnes per year and thanks to the plan developed back in 2014 they reduced them to 70 million tonnes. The goal is to reach 60 million by 2030 with an ultimate target of reaching ‘net zero’.