PRESENTATION
Motivation
The investments made by society throughout the 20th century to ensure citizens have access to drinking water in their homes and, once used, return it to the environment have been formidable. Water intakes, treatment plants, reservoirs, pipes, drainage systems, wastewater treatment plants, etc., have required investments of millions of euros, carried out over more than a hundred years. The replacement value of Spain's urban drinking water networks alone, almost 200,000 km long (excluding transport), is around 40 billion euros. Thus, the asset value of urban water infrastructure exceeds 150 billion euros. Therefore, if the challenge of the last century was construction, the challenge of the 21st century is maintenance and, when necessary, replacement. Failure to do so means passing on to future generations leaky networks, treatment plants that don't treat, and so on. In other words, an unsustainable burden.
This is a problem that affects both developed countries (the renewal of urban water infrastructure has already reached the United States Congress) and those that, while needing much new infrastructure, must maintain existing systems. In the current economic climate, with indebted governments and no European funding for new projects, it is a problem whose solution, given the formidable investments required, cannot be improvised. And as they say, prevention is always better than cure.
Who is interested?
To the political decision-makers, who must be well aware of this problem and understand that a country is all the more modern the better it preserves its heritage.
The technicians must have the judgment to prioritize investments over time. In other words, they must determine what is a priority for renovation, since needs will always exceed resources.
Citizens in general must understand that although water, a public resource, is free, the costly infrastructure that allows them to have it at their tap is not.
PROGRAM
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October 22, 2014
09:00 – 09:15
Registration and information collection
09:15 – 09:45
Opening of the Day
09:45 – 10:15
The Asset Management of Urban Water Infrastructures (GPI): A Global Overview
Helena Alegre. National Civil Engineering Laboratory. Lisbon. Portugal.
Leader of the GPI Specialist Group of the International Water Association (IWA).
10:15 – 10:45
The Asset Management of Urban Water Infrastructures (GPI). A view from Spain.
Enrique Cabrera Rochera. ITA. Polytechnic University of Valencia.
Leader of the Benchmarking Specialist Group of the International Water Association (IWA).
10:45 – 11:15
Coffee
11:15 – 12:00
The AWARE-P project: An innovative strategy to rationally address GPI.
Helena Alegre. National Civil Engineering Laboratory. Lisbon. Portugal.
Leader of the GPI Specialist Group of the International Water Association (IWA).
12:00 – 12:30
FACSA's experience in applying the AWARE-P methodology in water supply and sewerage
Fernando Bagán. FACSA. Castellón.
Deputy Director of Supply Operations at FACSA.
12:30 – 14:00
Round Table: The Future of GPI within the framework of Spain and the European Union
Helena Alegre. Leader of the GPI Specialist Group of the International Water Association (IWA). Lisbon.
Fernando Bagán. Deputy Director of Supply Operations at FACSA. Castellón.
Enrique Cabrera Marcet (moderator). Professor of Fluid Mechanics. ITA. Polytechnic University of Valencia.
Juan Luna. Head of Planning and Development at EMASESA. Seville.
Miguel Mondría. Technical Director of TYPSA. Madrid.
Koldo Urkullu. Manager Udal Sareak. Bilbao Water Consortium.
VENUE
Intur Castellón
Calle Herrero, 20. 12001 Castellón
