Public water without (public) financial mediation? Remunicipalizing water in Valladolid, Spain

ABSTRACT

We discuss the water remunicipalization process in the city of Valladolid (Spain), focusing specifically on its public financing model. Valladolid water remunicipalization has been a politically driven process, but implemented and managed in a technical way, through a public 100% municipality-owned company. As we show, it does not require the additional participation of financial intermediaries, public or private. The Valladolid remunicipalization process has been largely successful, with efficient financial and technical management, including some equity and environmental considerations, although it is not free from financial challenges that could cause it to totter in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• AquaVall
• Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO)
• public banks
• public finance
• remunicipalization
• water management
• Spain

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the editors of the special issue and two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this article, which improved this final version. The usual disclaimer applies. The authors also thank the AquaVall chief executive officer (CEO), the Valladolid councillor for the environment and sustainable development, ICO’s president and senior staff, and the IVF’s CEO for participating in this research. The authors also acknowledge, without implications, the help and informal comments provided by members from AMAP, OAT, ACA, Ecologistas en Acción and other grassroots organizations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The discussion of this issue is not the core element of this article and therefore we include both processes under the notion of (re)municipalization.

2. The shares of the mixed company Aigües de Barcelona (which manages the complete water cycle) are 70% owned by the Societat General d’Aigües de Barcelona (SGAB), 15% by CriteriaCaixa and the remaining 15% by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) (see https://aiguesdebarcelona.cat/web/ab-corporativa/qui-som).

3. For the case of Valladolid Toma La Palabra (VTLP), see p. 45 of https://www.valladolidtomalapalabra.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Programa-Valladolid-Toma-La-Palabra-2015.pdf/. In the case of the Socialist Party (PSOE), see p. 21 of https://www.psoeava.es/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/programa-electoral-municipal-2015.pdf/.

4. At that time the EOCs were integrated by the Banco de Crédito Industrial, Banco de Crédito Agrícola, Banco de Crédito Local and Banco Hipotecario de España. They also took over a large part of the shares of the Banco Exterior de España.

5. These figures are similar to those provided by one of the interviewers: an average family of three members, living in an apartment with no garden, pay on average some €35 for water supply and wastewater treatment every three months (interview 2).

6. With total household incomes below 1.5 times the IPREM, which, for 2021, is set in Spain at €565/month (see https://www.iprem.com.es/).

7. In Spain, in addition to the ICO there are other regional public entities destined to channel funds to finance projects of special economic or social relevance. The most representative are the Institut Català de Finances (ICF – Catalan Institute of Finance) and IVF, which are, in fact, the only two Spanish financial institutions that are members of the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB).

Additional information

Funding

M. Satorras acknowledges funding received from the Spanish Research Agency through a Juan de la Cierva – Formación research fellowship [grant number FJCI-2017-31723]. The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the “SOAS OA scheme” for the open access publication of the article.