We face the climate emergency and the commodification of a common good as basic as water, through a unique project based on mutual cooperation and innovation

Now that the country is experiencing one great drought and we are fully aware of theclimate emergency, the need for rethink water management models and create new ones, especially in our field, which is housing. We carry out this task thanks to the support of the Department of Social Economy of the Generalitat de Catalunya, through a Singular project, and in collaboration with Water.coop, Engineering Without Borders, Organic Society i La Constructiva. 

This project aims to promote new water cycle management models throughpromotion of water communities in cooperative housing, and implementing public-community strategies at a local scale for thewater use and protection of the water cycle.

90% of water in Barcelona is consumed in homes

Our everyday life is also part of the water cycle, and a part not to be neglected. We have to treat water as a collective common good, and that starts at home. Water communities can be very useful tools for this awareness.

The weight of water uses by sector in Barcelona | Engineering Without Borders

The processes of water collection, supply, use and return to the environment they are totally processes interdependent, and that we can intervene to recirculate this water. If we understand how we consume it, how much and for what, we can also know what rational use we should make of it.

What are aquatic communities?

In the energy field, the regulation and the promotion of the Energy Communities is making great progress. However, water is not being tackled with enough momentum. However, in large cities, the greatest consumption of water occurs in the domestic and municipal spheres.

The opportunities offered by the Water Communities are very high and diverse: from awareness and responsibility about the water consumption we do, the implementation of measures towater saving and rehabilitation, the utilization ofrainwater to green our roofs and gardens, the use of rain and gray water for toilets, cleaning and irrigation, until drainage of these waters in the natural urban environment.

The model of Water Communities that propose Engineering Without Borders in the guide wants to recover the historical memory of water I la community notion around the care of common goods. From this logic, Water Communities are understood as communities aware of the use and care of water, and they go from being passive subjects to active actors of the water cycle which must be taken care of and preserved in the context of the climate emergency we are living in.

The project: How will we do it?

We will analyze the water cycle in our cooperative housing projects to generate a water community model: how to design, manage, maintain and evaluate treatment systems (catchment, reuse and recycling), in addition to the digitization of data. Also, very important, how raise awareness and train our partners in water treatment in homes, to encourage empowerment and self-management. 

With this information we will define the optimal model for the collective management of water in cooperative housing and that we will implement in the next projects in development phase. For those already existing projects, they will be done corrective proposals and improvement of water management, as well as proposing guidelines for consumption and training for saving water. 

In the urban area, we will prepare one proposal for a municipal water cycle management system in Olesa de Montserrat with the collaboration of the local cooperative ecosystem (Olesa is the only municipality that has a municipal water service). With this experience we hope to generate the necessary resources and spaces to promote water communities and new water cycle management models at the local level in other municipalities in Catalonia.

With regard to the water management model of the territory and the water stress it suffers from, Engineers Without Borders has studied the plans of the local and Catalan administrations in relation to the use of water resources. As a result of this study they have developed a guide with legal and technical recommendations for the use of water resources where they raise challenges and proposals to take into account.

Some of the actions that will be carried out throughout this project include: 

• Prepare studies climate change resilience techniques in the water management of cooperative housing buildings.
• Implement these water cycle treatment systems in the buildings, as well as the monitoring systems, an action we are already carrying out to guarantee the environmental sustainability of our projects.
• To spread the knowledge generated with the publication of a guide and training activities in the territory.

With the values ​​of the social and solidarity economy in mind

This project is structured by the principles that govern our cooperative.

• With water communities we seek to foster one democratic management, through shared governance mechanisms. 
• In relation to the social justice, we believe that the collectivization of services and the promotion of non-profit water communities will ensure equitable and cost-effective access to a basic service. 
• La sustainability is key in the project, with a focus on reducing water consumption and the use of resources such as rain and gray water, contributing to combating climate change and ensuring a rational use of resources. 
• In addition, we prioritize the management waste efficient through the utilization and reuse of gray and rainwater. 
• we ensure theenergy efficiency, feeding these water systems with renewable energy, such as photovoltaics.

Looking to the future

With this project, we aspire to introduce new innovative ways of managing the water cycle, with a strong focus on community participation, environmental responsibility and the creation of proposals industrial

The project has medium and long-term potential, as it acts and responds to challenges such as access to housing and the use and saving of water, proposing a positive and lasting change.

did you know

This next 23 of març it's World Water Day, and several vindictive activities will be carried out to claim water as a basic right, and not as a commodity or geopolitical resource. Enginyeria Without Borders, with whom we work hand in hand on this project, has drawn up an agenda so you don't miss a single event. You can consult it here.