Agua urbana: mercantilización y resistencia social en España

The debate between public and private management of urban water services focuses on the ideological battle of the different policy options. Spain has experienced conditions favorable to the privatization process over the past thirty years. Recently this trend has been reinforc ed by the strategic reori- entation of the multinational water companies towards mature markets and the improper use of concession fees by the municipalities. The lack of mu- nicipal resources, the central administration’ s imposition of austerity and reform programs on local governments and the weaknesses of regulation have reinforced that trend. The Spanish model of privatizing urban water management is costly for the citizen: it increases water rates; it is environmentally unsustainable; because increased water consumption bene fi ts businesses the most, transparency is dispensed with as there are no regulatory bodies or indicators of management quality and reliable statistics; it is exclusive, since it endangers the water access of many vulnerable groups; and it causes a real loss of control when the authorities in charge are sometimes forced to renew the services without competitive bidding. For all these reasons, the current process of water management privatization in Spain is also triggering a social movement of resistance to confront the c ommodi fi cation of this vital resource. Beyond the relative success achieved by citizen protests, only by harmonizing the interests of legislative refo rmers and citizen advocates can the trend towards privatization be reversed. It is necessary to establish a broad consensus through a public water agreement to achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability.El debate entre la gestión pública y la privada de los servicios urbanos de agua se centra en la batalla ideológica de las distintas opciones políticas. En España se ha ido configurando en los últimos treinta años un marco propicio al proceso privatizador. Esta tendencia se ha reforzado recientemente como consecuencia de la reorientación estratégica de las multinacionales del agua hacia los mercados maduros y el inadecuado uso del canon concesional por parte de los municipios. Sin embargo, con el inicio de la actual crisis económica se ha n multiplicado los movimientos de resistencia ciudadana frente a este proceso. Más allá de los éxitos relativos conseguidos por las movilizaciones ciudadanas, sólo una correcta armonización entre las reformas legislativas y la movilización popular puede revertir la tendencia privatizadora