The province of Castellón has taken a strategic step towards a more efficient, resilient and sustainable water management model with the inauguration of the 1st Training Cycle for water managers, a pioneering initiative in Spain promoted by the Castellón Provincial Council in collaboration with Facsa with the aim of making the 135 municipalities of the province benchmarks in water governance.
The event, held this Thursday in the Reception Hall of the Provincial Palace, was attended by the President of the Provincial Council, Marta Barrachina, who officially opened the proceedings. Also participating were municipal officials, industry experts, and representatives from various sectors. Facsa, collaborating company of this initiative: Enrique Gimeno, president; Elena Llopis, CEO and José Claramonte, general manager.
Under the title "Past and Present of Urban Water in the Province," this first session presented a multidisciplinary perspective that allows us to understand how technical, political, and social factors intertwine around this essential resource. The presentations began with a reflection led by Enrique Cabrera, Professor of Fluid Mechanics at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, on the sustainability of the current model in Spain, shaped by socioeconomic constraints and water policy decisions. This was followed by a discussion on the importance of groundwater as a cornerstone of the province's water supply, where José Ramón Jiménez, a geologist with the Castellón Provincial Council, emphasized both its strategic value and the risks it faces.
Training adapted to public office
This first cycle, which will take place throughout the year, has been designed to offer specialized training to public officials and professionals with responsibilities in water management, from mayors and councilors to technical staff and municipal operators. All of this has a clear focus: to promote a profound and structured transformation of the water management model in the province.
In this push for a profound and structured transformation, the President of the Provincial Council, Marta Barrachina, emphasized the importance of involving professionals from the province's municipalities who are responsible for managing these systems, so that together they can move towards more sustainable water management. “These types of training opportunities are more necessary than ever, since water is an essential and irreplaceable resource. In our province, it also represents a technical challenge, a political priority, and a shared responsibility that demands vision, commitment, and preparation,” Barrachina stressed.
The provincial leader emphasized that, in following this path forward, the current reality of the province of Castellón must be taken into account, and at this point, she reviewed the actions carried out by the provincial institution regarding water resources. This real and effective commitment translates into an 821% increase in the budget, reaching 28.4 million euros; “a firm and decisive commitment to guaranteeing access to water and water sustainability in our province,” stressed the highest representative of the provincial institution.
Within that budget, the 14 projects for the construction and improvement of wastewater treatment plants stand out, in addition to the maintenance service for other water treatment facilities. Marta Barrachina also highlighted the significant PERTE project, which will allow for the measurement and digitization of key hydraulic variables in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. She also mentioned the €2.2 million allocated for works to guarantee the supply of drinking water and €1.5 million for AGA, aid programs to ensure access to drinking water. Furthermore, a major milestone is the Provincial Water Consortium, established to achieve cohesion, efficiency, and solidarity in the management of water resources throughout the province.
For his part, the president of Facsa, Enrique Gimeno emphasized that "this first Training Cycle is born with the vocation to mark a before and after in the management of water in the municipalities of the province.".
The next sessions of the cycle will address, respectively, provincial water planning focused on efficiency, digitalization and infrastructure renewal; and the future of water in Castellón, with special attention to the global and local challenges that will shape the water agenda for the coming decades.
Guidelines for sustainable urban water management
The course content is based on the book 'Guidelines for Sustainable Urban Water Management', written by Enrique Cabrera and published by Facsa, and is supplemented with technical reports, case studies, and presentations designed to ensure comprehension by participants without technical backgrounds. At the end of the program, a summary document will be produced outlining the main conclusions, which will serve as a roadmap for moving towards a more efficient, equitable, and sustainable water management model throughout the province.
The Provincial Council and Facsa thus reaffirm their commitment to innovation, training and public-private collaboration as essential pillars to face the challenges of water management in the 21st century.
