OVIEDO, 25 (EUROPA PRESS)
Asturian households consumed a total of 140 liters of water per inhabitant per day in 2018, a figure somewhat higher than the national average, of 133 liters, and which represents a decrease of 5.5% compared to 2016, according to the Statistics on Water Supply and Sanitation published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
In addition, this water had a price of 1.40 euros per square meter in the Principality, lower than the national average of 1.91 euros, according to the aforementioned statistics.
The volume of water registered and distributed in the autonomous community – accounting for the use of households, that of the economic sectors and the municipal – fell by 9.2% in 2018 compared to the data of 2016, with 76,093,000 cubic meters, which represent 2.4% of the country’s water consumption.
Specifically, 52,402,000 cubic meters were distributed to households, 2.3% of the national total in this section, while the economic sectors used 18,334,000 cubic meters, 2.9% of the country’s total, and the municipal consumption went up to 5,357,000 cubic meters, 1.9% of the national total. NATIONAL DATA
At the national level, the average household water consumption was 133 liters per inhabitant per day during 2018, 2.2% less than in 2016.
Thus, during 2018, 4,236 cubic hectometres (hm3) of water were supplied to the public urban supply networks. Approximately three quarters (3,188 hm3) were volumes of discharged water, that is, measured in the users’ meters. The rest (1,048 hm3) were unrecorded volumes of water (not measured or estimated by gauges).
Unrecorded water is broken down into real and apparent losses. The real losses (leaks, breaks and breakdowns in the supply network) were estimated at 653 hm3, which represented 15.4% of the total water supplied to these networks. On the other hand, the apparent losses (measurement errors, fraud and authorized unmeasured consumption) were 395 hm3.
On the other hand, the unit cost of water stood at 1.91 euros per cubic meter, with a decrease of 2.0% compared to 2016 (when it was 1.95 euros). This cost is defined as the quotient between the amounts paid for the water supply plus the amounts paid for sewerage, treatment and sanitation or discharge fees, and the volume of water registered and distributed to users.
For its part, the unit cost of water supply reached 1.13 euros per cubic meter, 3.4% less than in 2016 (which was 1.17 euros), while that of sanitation (sewerage, purification, sanitation and discharge fees) was 0.78 euros, the same as two years earlier.
Regarding the origin of the water, 64.3% of the volume captured by companies and public water suppliers came from surface water, and 30.9% had its origin in groundwater. The remaining 4.8% came from other types of waters (desalinated from the sea or brackish).
The autonomous communities that most increased the volume of water registered and distributed to users during 2018 were La Rioja (28.6%), Comunidad Valenciana (10.6%) and Comunidad Foral de Navarra (4.2%). On the contrary, those that reduced it the most compared to 2016 were the Basque Country (-10.1%), Principado de Asturias (-9.2%) and Extremadura (-8.2%).
The communities that distributed the most volume of water in 2018 were Andalusia (17.1% of the total), Catalonia (14.7%) and the Community of Madrid (13.2%). At the other extreme were La Rioja (0.9% of the total), Cantabria (1.5%) and Comunidad Foral de Navarra (1.6%).
The autonomous communities with the highest consumption of water registered and distributed to households in 2018 were Andalusia (17.3% of the total), Catalonia (14.9%) and the Valencian Community (13.9%). Regarding the water consumption of the economic sectors, the communities with the highest volumes were Andalusia (17.4% of the total), Catalonia (14.8%) and the Community of Madrid (10.8%). For their part, the communities with the highest municipal consumption were Comunidad de Madrid (18.3% of the total), Andalucía (14.9%) and Comunidad Valenciana (13.6%).
Average household water consumption was the highest in Comunidad Valenciana (175 liters per inhabitant per day), Cantabria (172) and Región de Murcia (149). On the contrary, the lowest were registered in the Basque Country (104 liters per inhabitant per day), Comunidad Foral de Navarra (114) and La Rioja (116).
The highest values of the unit cost of water in 2018 were in Catalonia (2.67 euros per cubic meter), Region of Murcia (2.57) and Illes Balears (2.54). And the lowest in La Rioja (1.01), Castilla y León (1.13), and Castilla La Mancha (1.25). OCU AND WATER PRICE: SEVILLA, MURCIA AND BARCELONA, THE MOST EXPENSIVE
On the other hand, a recent study by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) on water rates in the 50 provincial capitals, Vigo, Gijón and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, reveals differences in the final price: for a Annual consumption of 175 m3 (a household with four people) varies between 157 euros in Palencia and 560 euros in Seville.
The study, published in the OCU magazine ‘Compra Maestra’, highlights the high cost of water in Seville (560 euros / year), Murcia (552 euros / year) and Barcelona (502 euros / year), but also in Alicante ( 461 euros / year), Palma (460 euros / year), Huelva (449 euros / year), Tarragona (426 euros / year), Cádiz (417 euros / year) and Segovia (411 euros / year).
More than double the cost of the same 175 m3 of water in nine other cities: San Sebastián (200 euros / year), Ávila (199 euros / year), Lugo (198 euros / year), León (194 euros / year) , Melilla (182 euros / year), Soria (175 euros / year), Guadalajara (164 euros / year), Orense (162 euros / year) and Palencia (157 euros / year).
The high cost of water in some cities could be explained, according to OCU, by the greater supply difficulties, but this limitation should only affect the part of the bill that refers to supply. However, he adds that the amount of the concepts of sanitation and meter are also usually higher in these cities.
OCU also notes the lack of tariff measures to promote water savings in more than half of the cities analyzed, where the price per cubic meter ends up being cheaper the higher the consumption (fixed costs penalize low consumption and not so much high consumption). It happens mainly in Bilbao, Burgos, Cáceres, Castellón, Ceuta, Córdoba, Cuenca, Gijón, Huesca, La Coruña, Madrid, Pamplona, Pontevedra, San Sebastián, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Teruel, Valencia, Vigo and Zamora.
Finally, OCU reminds consumers that there are social rates for low-income families; and that some municipalities offer special rates for large families and homes where many people live.
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