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IAHR-Spain Water Conference

The Future of Water Infrastructure in Spain and the World

Tuesday 8 April 2025 (9:00-18:00 h)

Presentations  Keep updated  In spanish

 Introduction

The large number of water-related infrastructures in Spain and in the world, their current state, and the need both to maintain existing ones and to design new ones that guarantee a sustainable service – for urban, agricultural and industrial users – have put the future evolution of these infrastructures at the centre of the debate. This debate is framed in a context of growing concern about the quality of water resources, environmental protection, the management of extreme events such as floods or droughts, and adaptation to climate change.

Within this framework, and under the umbrella of the agreement between the IAHR (International Association of Hydro-Environmental Engineering and Research), Spain Water (made up of the Directorate-General for Water, the Directorate-General for the Coast and the Sea, and CEDEX), and the CICCP (College of Civil Engineers), a conference was held dedicated to the analysis and reflection on the future of hydraulic infrastructures.  both in Spain and in the world.

In the first block, the current needs of the Spanish hydraulic system have been addressed, together with innovative experiences at a global level, such as those developed in China to strengthen water security through intelligent technologies. Key technical issues have been discussed, such as the evolution of physical and numerical modelling in large hydraulic works, fundamental for the planning and optimisation of these infrastructures.

In the second block, an international perspective was provided, with presentations on national strategies in countries such as Portugal and Australia.

In the third block, the challenges and opportunities faced by hydraulic infrastructures in the context of climate change and energy transition have been delved into, with contributions from both national experts, representatives of the water sector in Spain, and international leaders who have presented cases from countries such as France and Morocco.

The day concluded with a closing session by representatives of MITECO, CEDEX and IAHR, reinforcing the joint commitment to more sustainable, resilient and inclusive hydraulic infrastructures.

 Programme (9:00 - 18:00)

Register (8:30 – 9:00 h)

Opening (9:00 – 9:30)
Mª Dolores Pascual Vallés. General Director of Water Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition. 
Áurea Perucho Martínez. Director of CEDEX.
Philippe Gourbesville. President of IAHR.    

1st Session (9:30 – 11:00)

• Hydraulic works in Spain: their purpose and future needs (9:30 – 10:00)

  Francisco José Hijós Bitrián. General Subdirectorate of Hydraulic Public Domain and Infrastructures. General Directorate for Water. Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition.

  Water in Spain: The essential role played by hydraulic infrastructures in society, not only to guarantee supply, but also to prevent risks and ensure balanced territorial development.

The Hydrological Plans and their programmes of measures: Spain has already carried out four cycles of hydrological planning, the fundamental objectives of which have been to achieve good water status and guarantee rational use. However, a significant delay in the implementation of many of the measures envisaged in previous cycles was recognized. The panellist underlined the need to accelerate its implementation in order to meet environmental and social objectives.

Challenges of water infrastructures: Among the main challenges identified are water security and resilience to climate change, the urgent need to conserve and rehabilitate dams and pipelines, digitalization as a key tool for more efficient exploitation, the use of non-conventional resources (desalination and reuse), the strengthening of the urban water cycle with a sustainable and regulated approach at the national level,  the integration of energy and water, especially in the context of the National Plan for Hydraulic Energy Storage, key in the energy transition.

Investing in water: The importance of valuing water economically and making visible the role of infrastructures in environmental and territorial sustainability, as well as the need to continue investing in resilient hydraulic infrastructures that include natural solutions, modern technologies and sustainability principles to guarantee a safe, equitable and efficient future in the use of water in Spain.

• Digital Intelligence Empowering National Water Network: Innovative Practices for Water Security (10:00 – 10:30)

  Jing Peng. President of China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (Online)

  At the IAHR-Spain Water Conference, Dr. Jing Peng, president of the China Water Resources Institute (IWHR), gave a presentation on the Development of Water Infrastructures in China: Innovation and Practice. Reviewing China's achievements in water infrastructure in the past, he stressed the urgent need for a new approach to water infrastructure development, given the challenges facing both the country and the rest of the world.

  
  

  In this context, China has already pioneered various practices aimed at next-generation water infrastructure, which are based on three key technical elements: digitalization, connectivity, and intelligence (DNI). Dr. Peng presented examples that illustrate this approach, such as the National Water Network Monitoring and Dispatch System, a rainfall and flood forecasting system based on the "Three Lines of Defense", a three-dimensional digital twin for watershed management, a decision support system for flood control based on the "Four Precautions",  and a digital monitoring platform for the construction of concrete dams.

  
  

  Looking ahead, he pointed to some emerging trends such as digital empowerment, empowerment through models, and the creation of new application scenarios. Finally, he emphasized the fundamental objective of the water infrastructure of the future: to coordinate development with security, including flood safety, water supply, food security and ecological protection, in order to achieve harmonious coexistence between people and water in our common future.

  
  

• Some considerations on the present and future of physical and numerical modelling of large hydraulic infrastructures (10:30 – 11:00)

  Luis Balairón. Director Hydraulics Laboratory. Centre for Hydrographic Studies. CEDEX.

  From his experience in the Hydraulics Laboratory of CEDEX, Luis Balairón presented his vision on the evolution of design criteria in large hydraulic infrastructures and the role expected of physical and numerical modelling techniques in the future.

  

The speaker spoke about the growing value of baseline information – both hydrological and cartographic – and how it has improved in recent years. He also pointed out that current designs of hydraulic infrastructures face increasingly complex challenges, which makes it essential to adopt a multidisciplinary approach.

In relation to physical modelling, he highlighted the value of this technique for its intrinsic advantages, highlighting its widespread use both in Spain and internationally. Regarding 2D and 3D numerical modelling, he highlighted the evolution of these tools and how, from CEDEX, it has opted for the development of its own models. Finally, he stressed that the future lies in a hybrid modeling strategy, which combines the use of physical and numerical models in a coordinated way to take advantage of the best of both methodologies.

Coffee break (11:00 - 11:30)

2nd Session (11:30 – 13:30)

• The new role of dams in the framework of Integrated water resource management (11:30 – 12:00)

  Enrique Cifres. International Consultant. Honorary Vice President of ICOLD (International Commission on Large Dams).

  Since the 1992 Rio Summit, all countries have been committed to a series of principles. Sustainable development was enshrined then, but so was "Integrated Water Resources Management" which implies social participation in projects and the environment. 

  

Over time, the enormous difficulty of implementing this idea was discovered, giving rise to reactions against dams such as the World Commission on Dams (2000) after a moratorium in the 90s that slowed down the financing of dams by the World Bank and other multilateral institutions. The European Plans and Programmes Directive (2003) was another boost to this participatory approach, as well as the OECD's Water Governance initiative (2015). All this highlights that the social component far exceeds the technical obstacles in the promotion of infrastructures, which are on the table today in the face of the challenge of climate change. The presentation by Dr Enrique Cifres has exposed this problem has led to a shift in the vision of ICOLD and the new approach to dams in this scenario well into the 21st century.

• Water that Unites - a new Portuguese National Water Strategy (12:00 – 12:30) 
  

  José Salema. President of EDIA and co-chair of the recently launched plan for the Portuguese Water Infrastructures in Portugal (Online).

  Water, a vital resource for life, ecosystems and the economy, is facing increasing pressures due to droughts and shortages intensified by climate change. In Portugal, fragmented management must be replaced by a sustainable approach, with new instruments that promote efficiency and innovation.

  

In July 2024, the government of Portugal created a multidisciplinary Working Group to develop the Água que Une strategy, which will guide the revision of the National Water Plan (PNA 2025-2035) and the creation of the REGA Plan, articulating them with other plans such as PENSAARP 2030. The objective is to manage water as a single resource, guaranteeing sustainability and territorial cohesion.

The strategy was built with regional and national consultations, involving more than 180 representatives from various sectors, and specific sessions with experts to discuss governance and scarcity. Água que Une seeks multisectoral management, reconciling agriculture, environment and population, ensuring climate resilience and sustainability of water bodies. The following priorities were defined in the Água que Une strategy:

(a) Increasing water efficiency and promoting the rational use of water; (b) Reduction of water losses in public, agricultural, tourist and industrial supply systems; (c) Promotion of the use of treated wastewater; (d) Optimization of the operation of existing infrastructures, promoting their multifunctionality and reinforcing the resilience and redundancy of hydraulic systems; (e) Increasing the storage capacity of existing infrastructure; (f) Creation of new infrastructures and water sources, including storage, regulation and catchment infrastructures, desalination units and, as a last option, interconnection between river basins. 

These objectives were materialised in various intervention programmes, at national or regional level, which include nearly three hundred concrete measures with an estimated budget of more than 9,500 million euros to be implemented until 2040. Examples of these measures include the rehabilitation of irrigation and public supply systems, increasing the height of existing dams along with improving their safety, modifying hydropower dam concession contracts to allow for the extraction of volumes for consumptive uses, as well as identifying new dam projects to address chronic regional shortages and inter-system connections to strengthen the resilience of water supply.

• Water infrastructure in a continent of extremes – insights from Australia (12:30 – 13:00)

  Stephan Felder. Chair of the IAHR Technical Committee on Hydraulic Structures and Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney, Australia (Online).

  Australia is a country of extremes. It is the driest inhabited continent on the planet and is frequently affected by droughts, floods and torrential rains. Right now, parts of South Australia, including Adelaide, are experiencing severe drought conditions, while a region the size of France and Germany combined, in the Queensland outback, is currently in the worst flooding in 50 years.

  
  

  These extremes – whether due to excess or scarcity of water – are at the heart of water resources management in Australia, where large water infrastructures play a key role in mitigating their effects. Such infrastructure is essential for the country's development and prosperity, and the focus is currently shifting to climate change adaptation, the modernisation of ageing infrastructure and large investments in hydroelectric pumping systems, which are essential to advance the transition to a future based on renewable energies.

• Reservoirs: Key infrastructures in the energy transition (13:00 – 13:30)

  Imanol García Sandón. Technical Advisor. Subdirectorate General of Public Hydraulic Domain and Infrastructure.

  Within the framework of the conference "The Future of Water Infrastructures in Spain and in the World", organized by the IAHR, the civil engineer gave an enlightening presentation on the strategic role of reservoirs in the context of the energy transition.

Under the title "The reservoirs. Key infrastructures in the energy transition", the usefulness of these infrastructures was firmly defended, not only as a guarantee of water supply, but also as essential elements to develop new energy storage capacity. In an electricity system that is increasingly dependent on renewable energies, reservoirs make it possible to manage intermittency, provide flexibility and ensure grid stability through technologies such as hydroelectric pumping.

The presentation highlighted the initiatives that the General Directorate of Water is promoting to take advantage of this potential. Including:
- The modification of water regulations, with the aim of facilitating compatibility between energy and traditional uses, as well as simplifying administrative procedures for new energy storage projects.
- The portfolio of projects currently in the pipeline, which shows a renewed interest in reactivating or adapting existing reservoirs for use as pumping and storage plants.
- The National Hydraulic Energy Storage Programme, a key initiative that seeks to identify viable sites, promote public-private investment and coordinate water and energy policies to maximise the use of water resources in the energy transition.

The intervention concluded with a call to action: to advance in the recognition of the strategic value of water as an energy vector, and to articulate regulatory, technical and financial instruments that allow efficient and intelligent use of an infrastructure already deployed in the territory.

Lunch (13:30 – 15:00)

3rd Session (15:00  – 16:30)

• Challenges of the Water Sector in Spain (15:00 – 15:30)

  Ángel Fernández López. President of the Water Group. Water, Energy and Climate Change Committee. Spanish College of Civil Engineers.

  Spain is facing challenges in the sector, which have been accumulating, and which have catastrophic consequences. The sector has been demanding it for decades, and it is a lack of structural investment for a key sector for the national economy, which is necessary for almost 20% of GDP, among others, tourism, agriculture and energy.

In this context, Spain has the worst indicators of water stress and desertification in Europe and by 2050, half of Spaniards will suffer supply cuts, if measures are not taken more forcefully.
In addition, climate change has led to a greater need for hydraulic infrastructures, due to more intense and more spaced rainfall and a greater frequency of droughts. In addition, Spain is not complying with the European directive on purification and reuse, although it is true that Europe has demanded more of itself than the rest of its international partners.

Collaterally, the water-energy binomial is inseparable, and the commitments to energy neutrality by 2050, with 100% renewable origin and 42% by 2030, already meeting this last milestone, above the European target of 32%, have meant that the lack of a solution to the problem of the accumulation of energy from renewable sources,  without taking into account hydropower, is causing part of the problems of expensive energy, apart from external geopolitical conditions.

It is also important to note that the Water Framework Directive requires cost recovery in the sector, and specifically in urban water, the tariff in Spain is almost half that of the European average. Finally, the lack of agility and diversity of skills in Spain, together with the weak role of the private sector, as a key factor both in knowledge of the sector and in its financing role, mean that we continue to suffer the consequences. If the structural deficit of the sector has been valued in the past at between 20,000-40,000 million euros, today, adding the factor of climate change and energy, we are talking about around 100,000 million euros.

Desde el Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, como Presidente del Grupo de Agua y con mi papel, de líder de una de las empresas del sector, se reclama acción en el sector y voluntad política para resolver esta situación.

• The future of hydroelectric infrastructures with a focus on France (15:30 – 16:00)
  

  Jean Paul Chabard. President of the French Hydrotechnical Society and former Scientific Director of Electricité de France (Online).

  La presentación de Jean-Paul Chabard se centró en el futuro de las instalaciones hidroeléctricas.

  
  

  After presenting the current situation of hydroelectricity in the world, in Europe and in France, Jean-Paul Chabard underlined the importance of hydroelectricity in ensuring the security of the electricity system. Hydroelectricity is the only renewable energy that can be controlled. Therefore, it plays a crucial role in guaranteeing the production-consumption balance in a context in which non-controllable renewable energies (solar and wind) are called to develop. The flexibility of hydropower is therefore essential to achieve carbon neutrality, which will result in an increase in electricity demand.

  Thanks to pumped storage plants, hydropower can also provide storage between periods of low and high demand, which will become increasingly necessary in this context. Finally, hydraulic reservoirs are called upon to play a key role in a context of increasing scarcity of water resources linked to climate change, with a growing need for arbitrage between different uses during periods of high pressure on the resource.

• Water Resource Management: Resilience in the Face of Climate Change (16:00 – 16:30)

  Mohamed Abdellah Ezzaquini. Director Agence du Bassin Hydraulique Loukkos, Morocco.

  In his presentation, Mohamed Abdellah Ezzaquini presented the challenges facing the northern region of Morocco in the face of climate change: growing demand for water, depletion of water resources and environmental risks such as droughts, floods and pollution.

Among the measures highlighted are the construction of large and small reservoirs, the reinforcement of hydraulic interconnection, the development of desalination and reuse of wastewater, and the modernization of supply and irrigation networks.
Innovative projects such as a floating solar park, a hybrid hydroelectric-photovoltaic system and the creation of green belts to protect reservoirs were also presented. All this with the aim of guaranteeing water security and sustainable development in the region.

Colloquium (16:30 - 17:30)

Speaker: Concepción Marcuello. Coordinator International Affairs. General Directorate for Water. Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition.

• Francisco José Híjós Bitrián. General Subdirectorate of Hydraulic Public Domain and Infrastructures. General Directorate for Water. Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition.

• Enrique Cifres. International Consultant. Honorary Vice President of ICOLD (International Commission on Large Dams).

• Luis Balairón. Director Hydraulics Laboratory. Centre for Hydrographic Studies. CEDEX.

• Imanol García Sendón. Technical Advisor. Subdirectorate General of Public Hydraulic Domain and Infrastructure.

• Angel Fernández López. President of the Water Group. Water, Energy and Climate Change Committee. Spanish College of Civil Engineers.

  Closing (17:30 – 18:00)
  

   Organisation and Contact

  
  

  IAHR and Spain Water (General Directotate for Water, CEDEX and General Directorate of the Coast and the Sea).

  IAHR Global Secretariat.
  Paseo Bajo Virgen del Puerto 3.
  28005 Madrid. España.
  Tel: +34 91 335 79 08
  Email: iahr@iahr.org