Water Pricing in Spain: Following the Footsteps of Somber Climate Change Projections

Abstract

As many other countries, Spain has to cope with, and be prepared to address, major water challenges: climate change, growing demand, and water pollution. Climate change projections indicate significant reductions of runoff and water recharge and more unstable climate regimes. Improving water allocation has become an urgent need. Water demand management is now one of the most relevant issues in the Spanish water policy agenda. The chapter discusses the controversial topic of water pricing, focusing on Spain. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) foresees that, in order to ensure an efficient and sustainable management of water resources, prices should be fixed according to the principle of cost recovery. But our analysis of all policy-relevant drivers and likely scenarios suggests that reforming water-pricing policies is likely to face numerous obstacles and to raise strong opposition from most water users. And yet, pricing policies in Spain are already innovative and fully implemented for all sectors. So the way to reform is already paved, and we expect that more progress will be made in next WFD planning period (2015–2020).