Quest for sustainable urban water services

Lectio Praecursoria of Doctoral Dissertation Tampere University 11.9.2020

Legal Aspects of Urban Water and Sanitation Regulatory Services: An Analysis of How the Spanish Experience Positively Would Contribute to the Brazilian New Regulation

This paper focuses on the legal and institutional framework of urban water services in Spain, emphasizing water sanitation by using proposals that would positively contribute to wastewater management in Brazil. The recent Brazilian Federal Law No. 14,026/20 aims to encourage investment in water sanitation, promoting public-private collaboration formulas so that service management is viable even in economically less-favored regions. In Spain, sanitation policies are aimed at fulfilling the set of obligations and objectives imposed by European Union Directives within the environmental policies of the Union. From an economic point of view, supply and sanitation water services are classified at European legal framework as “services of general economic interest” (SGEI), not subject to harmonized regulation and open to a natural monopoly provision regime, which they admit various types of management formulas, public and private, based on the ownership and public intervention of the service, both at national and European level. We believe that the Spanish experience in this field, beyond its singularities, can serve as a useful reference for Brazilian’s urban wastewater new regulation for several reasons: (1) Because of the decentralized political scheme that both countries share and the need to articulate an adequate system of competencies in consequence; (2) Because of the international experience that Spanish companies have at the sector’s technological forefront, they are very competitive; (3) Due to the adequate functioning of the Spanish legal and organizational framework since, despite its shortcomings, as we later will comment, it has managed to develop successful financing formulas and management models that, in general terms, have allowed to ensure with reasonable efficiency, continuity, stability and sustainability in the provision of urban water services.

Resilient Urban Water Services for the 21th Century Society—Stakeholder Survey in Finland

Resilience has become a vital theme in the discussion concerning urban water services. Resilience in this context can be defined as both keeping up a good level of services, as well as rapid and fluent recovery from failures caused by natural disasters, unsound infrastructure or incorrect management. Although adequate water services resilience can be considered as sustainable, resilience is a wider concept than sustainability. In order to call water services resilient, all sections from policy and management to technical operation should be clear and coherent, and their operation in challenging situations also must be guaranteed. This study seeks a resilient approach to water services through a literature review, and a questionnaire to stakeholders; mainly water supply and sanitation experts. The results show that sufficient technology and good water quality are not sufficient for achieving resilient water services, but also education and institutional management are essential issues. These are accomplished by a methodical education system, capacity building, and good governance.