Spain continues to break records in tourism year after year. In 2024 alone, the country received 94 million visitors, 10% more than the previous year. This intense tourist activity is not possible without efficient public services, and among them is having a good water supply and purification system. It is one of the conclusions that has been evident in the Fiturnext Sustainability Observatory, which, in alliance with Aqualia, offers a space in Fitur 2025 in which several experts have addressed how to promote sustainable practices in the tourist field.
“In our country, from Galicia to Andalusia, from Extremadura to Catalonia, and, of course, in the Canarian and Balearic archipelagos, tourism plays a fundamental role in the economy and directly affects the way we must manage water,” he said Lucas Díaz, director for Spain of Aqualia, at the inauguration of Fiturnext. “In this scenario, innovation, efficient management and digitalization will play a key role,” he said.
Fiturnext yesterday hosted the “Opportunities of the circular economy in the management of the water cycle», presented by Víctor Monsalvo, head of the Eco-Efficiency Area in the Aqualia Innovation Department, and which was attended by representatives of the sector Public and private: José Manuel Alcántara, General Director of ArcGISA (Water and Waste of the Campo de Gibraltar); José Juan Franco, mayor of the Line of Conception; Ignacio Gragera, mayor of Badajoz; and Silvia Heredia, mayor of Écija.
During the panel, Víctor Monsalvo stressed that tourism intensifies the consumption of water resources: “A tourist can get to quintuple the average water spending per inhabitant.” In this context, he stressed the importance of unconventional water sources, such as desalination and residual water regeneration, to guarantee the sustainability of the water cycle in a constantly growing sector. «Tourism has increased by 10% per year. If that means increasing the water resource by 10%, we will have to expand the ways in which we obtain it, ”said Monsalvo, who clarified that” the circular economy is not an option, it is our daily reality in water management. We convert waste water into a valuable resource ». He also highlighted the role of innovation, digitalization and public-private collaboration as fundamental pillars to move towards a sustainable model.
Local success cases: La Línea, Badajoz and Écija
The representatives of the participating municipalities shared the advances in circular economy applied to water management in their locations. José Juan Franco, mayor of the Line of La Concepción (Cádiz), said that in the municipality «a second life is being given to the water to maintain very important tourist resources in the area, such as the golf courses, and it is expected expand its use ». In addition, he highlighted other milestones, such as a project of 8 million euros for water reuse in the tertiary sector. The mayor of the line also stressed that in 10 years the total sewer investment in the municipality has been 17 million euros, highlighting that “they are the investments that fill you most, because they are not so visible, but very necessary. We have to combine the development of the city with the development of a reliable, effective and sustainable water network ».
José Manuel Alcántara, General Director of ArcGISA (Water and Waste of the Campo de Gibraltar), explained that “in the Gibraltar field there is an industrial pole that consumes 35% of the water and there is a very demanding tourism sector, with golf courses, and an urban typology with many gardens ». In a drought alert situation in the region that lasts since 2021, almost for four years, secondary water sources become vital solutions. «Water regeneration has allowed local industry to save 60% of this resource in the last 10 years. Without it, the industry would not be viable, ”said Alcántara. In addition, he pointed out that “water scarcity is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of data” and stressed that “amen of the technification of the sector, which is already underway, and of unconventional sources, governance, way in which water is managed, it has a significance too ».
For his part, Ignacio Gragera, mayor of Badajoz, valued the innovation projects developed in this region in collaboration with Aqualia, such as Deep Purple, which transforms wastewater and urban waste into bioproducts for the industry, and e-fluent -ex , focused on use biorersidos to generate bioproducts and renewable energy. “Thanks to these initiatives, Badajoz is positioned as a reference in water sustainability and innovation,” said the mayor, also highlighting that in recent years very ambitious plans for network renewal have been executed. “The great investment of the next few years will be the renewal of municipal deposits, which reaches up to 8 million euros,” he said. The mayor of Badajoz concluded: “The administrations have the responsibility of providing good service and achieving objectives not only economic but also of efficiency and that they do to the leading cities”
Silvia Heredia, mayor of Écija, emphasized the importance of the circular economy in a municipality with large agricultural extensions, parks and a booming tourism: «Thanks to our aquifers and the use of regenerated water, we take advantage of a large volume of water for our irrigation And thanks to this, our dry land crops have multiplied their profitability ». Heredia highlighted the role of public-private collaboration to carry out these actions on the network, and explained that in the region “two tourist sustainability plans have already been implemented, in which the circular economy is applied.” “We are all thinking of circular economy because right now it is what touches us, and I think there is also a great commitment on the part of the citizenship,” summarized the mayor.
To close the session, Víctor Monsalvo concluded: «Water is agriculture, industry, mobility, tourism … It has many opportunities and public-private collaboration is a model to maintain and replicate to carry out innovative projects that become successful cases as those mentioned here ».
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