The Technological Platform Spaniard of the Water advances the details of his IV Meeting

The Technological Platform Spaniard of the Water was born in January of this same year like a network of public cooperation-deprived for the promotion of the R&D between the scientific and technological agents national, being led by the industry and the rest of the business sector of the water.

“This platform has like one of his big virtues the have attained to join to all the public and private agents that operate in the sector”, signalled Miguel López. This collaboration allows to advance in the achievement of common aims as it is the promotion of the innovation and of the constant improvement of the technologies and applicable processes to the sustainable management of the integral cycle of the water, as well as the improvement of the employment, competitiveness and internationalisation/internationalization of the sector.

“Of agreement to the international patents obtained during the last ten years, Spain is the second European country more innovative in the application of technologies of the water, only surpassed by Germany, but to keep this situation it is necessary to follow betting by the R&D”, indicated the general secretary of Ptea.

Is this sense, the IV Meeting of the project 'Country in Water', that will take place in November in Madrid, is a step more to advance in the promotion of the investigation. The day, as it indicated Miguel López, will have four highlights: the presentation of the singular projects that promotes the platform, the launching of the stamp Ptea, the formulas of finance and the promotion of the 'networking' between all the agents involved to do a X-ray of the sector and advance joined.

The stamp of the Ptea is allocated to support to the promoters of projects of R&D in the phase of evaluation of the proposals in a national or international announcement. This distinction accredits that the proposal is coherent with the strategy of innovation of the sector of the water in Spain and that, with his execution, the project will generate a series of improvements and profits for the society.

“Is a very practical initiative and strategic, that allows to agglutinate the efforts of the private field, of the universities, of the scientific entities and of the public administration”, manifested Adrián Baltanás, technical vice-president of Ptea.

This innovative character also is present in the eight singular projects that want to promocionar from this platform and that suppose a near investment to the 200 million euros, with a term of execution approximated of five years. Although these projects will detail in the day of November, Adrián Baltanás advanced some of them, like the implantation of a new technology that allow reutilizar a greater percentage of the residual water and, at the same time, take advantage of the energetic content of his slimes and fangos to obtain an energetic cost '0'. That is to say, the proportionate energy by the waste would serve to realise/realize the process of depuración.

Also has generated a big interest to attain a more efficient management of the water in the agricultural sector (this is the greater consumer of water in Spain, with in a percentage of the 70-75%), a project focused to increase the automation of the irrigation, of such form that, analysing/analyzing different variables, the new system calculate of immediate form which quantity of water requires use, in which moment of the day would attain the maximum optimisation/optimization and how it would be necessary to employ it to attain the greater agricultural production.

Spain is, definitely, a world-wide referent in the application of technologies of the water, of such form that are increasingly the national companies that have opened way out of our borders. Regions like Latin America (in Mexico, a Spanish signature is building the greater desaladora of the world), north of Africa, Middle East and Australia (at present, there is in this country between 70 and 80 Spanish engineers specialised/specialized in the treatment of water) enjoy today of the experience accumulated during years by the Spanish companies in the domestic market. At present, signatures of reference in the sector obtain until 75% of his turnover with works abroad, and the potential of growth is still greater if it takes into account that there are countries with a big projection for these technologies where hardly has today witnesses, like China or the Indian.

“In Spain, have done of the need, virtue, countering ours special characteristic hídricas with the application of the technologies of water more modern, setting up programs of desalación or depuración entirely innovative that have allowed us over time can go out more easily to the outside”, said Ángel Cajigas, international vice-president of Ptea.

In this line, the opportunities of internationalisation/internationalization that open them to the Spanish companies are enormous, fundamentally in three appearances: the research of new resources (as for example the desalación), the modernisation/modernization of the regadíos and the optimum management of the resources hídricos in moments of shortage.

Besides, for the Spanish companies, the projects of cooperation to the development that are contemplated in different parts of the world, suppose also a responsibility to the hour to expand his know how in the development of hydrographic infrastructures, so important or more than the energetic or the communicative.

With all this, in spite of this big international projection, from Ptea warns of the risks to neglect our network. “The external market never can compensate the fault of activity in the interior. It can not follow with so many cuts and adjust budgetary. It is necessary to ask to the public administrations that follow investing in projects related with the water, attending to the public collaboration-deprived to compensate the measures that have taken to reduce the budgetary deficit. They can not delay during more time indispensable projects for our country”, warned Adrián Baltanás.

“If it leaves to invest in water, will confront us to big problems of floods, droughts, etc. can not leave that this pass. The investment in infrastructures of water is fundamental in any country, but more still in Spain by his special conditions”, added Miguel López.

On a long-term basis, to guarantee the investments in the sector, from Ptea poses a change of model, in which the user assume really the cost of the water that consumes. For this would be necessary an essential reform of the Law of Waters and a political pact the widest possible. In a situation like the current, in which the public administrations need to adjust his budgets and in which the European bottoms are diverting to other less developed countries, the consumer has to assume a greater paper to the hour to cover this deficit.

Adrián Baltanás contributed some data very clarificadores in this sense. “The derivative costs of the sector of the water in Spain rondan the 12.800 million euros, of which 8.700 millions are imputable directly to the users. These, to day of today, are covering with his contributions surroundings to the 5.700 million euros, by what the remaining 3.000 millions are being subsidized”, concluded. This does that they give curious situations like that a litre/liter of water of tap in Madrid was 500 cheaper times that a litre/liter of water bottled.