The Circular Economy, a Solution for Efficient Water Use

CAF—development bank of Latin America—, with the collaboration of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, has organized the 8th Latin America-Spain Water Dialogues, with this edition focusing on the Circular Economy in water management, with the goal of analyzing and reflecting on the efficient use of water, the preservation and improvement of the quality of water resources and the different benefits of the use of by-products resulting from purification processes.

Around 4 billion people in the world currently experience water scarcity at least one month a year, while 1.6 billion have no access to water due to lack of infrastructure. This situation impacts the entire world, including Latin America and the Caribbean, which, as CAF explains, concentrates 30% of the planet’s water resources.

This and other issues were addressed at these 8th Water Dialogues. After welcoming remarks of director Enrique Ojeda, this edition was officially opened by CAF Executive President Sergio Díaz-Granados, who highlighted the challenge in Latin America and the Caribbean, where only 40% of wastewater is treated, while 60% is discharged directly, with a direct impact on public health and water quality, in addition to high costs.

Díaz-Granados warned of the consequences of climate change that hinder water availability, with great droughts and floods that lead to substantial economic losses. “We need urgent and lasting solutions to close the water and sanitation gaps,” he noted, and advocated for a necessary cooperation between public administrations and the private sector, as well as CAF’s role as a green bank in the region.

For his part, Gonzalo García Andrés, Secretary of State for Economy and Business Support of the Government of Spain, underscored that we are facing a triangle formed by water, energy and food; a triangle, he added, compounded by the effects of climate change, which undermines water resources and energy and food security, and by the Russian conflict in Ukraine, which is causing serious energy problems, with rising prices of energy, e.g. gas and electricity, and food, due to rising costs along the food chain.

The Secretary of State also praised the work of CAF and the Government of Spain, emphasized the efforts in investment, renewal and regulation that must be made in order to advance and achieve greater prosperity for the future, and the role that the country will play when it takes the European presidency in 2023 “as a bridge between Latin America and Europe.” “We must create a climate that attracts investment and we must execute those investments in order for public-private partnerships to become more beneficial,” García Andrés concluded.

CAF’s Corporate Vice President of Strategic Programming, Christian Asinelli, discusses access to water as a human right that must reach everyone and as a guarantee of social inclusion. He recalled that 35% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean has water stress, hence, the need to foster the commitment to build infrastructure, but also, to the moral obligation to take care of our resources.  Lastly, he reiterated CAF’s commitment and advocated for organized collaboration to achieve water security.

The opening ceremony was followed by the presentation “Strategic vision of the circular economy in the LAC water sector” by Ángel Cárdenas, Manager of Urban Development, Water and Creative Economies at CAF, who underscored that we are facing two major challenges: recovery from the pandemic, which caused major economic destruction and left 15 million new poor in the region; and climate change. The solution or the key to overcoming these challenges, Cardenas said, is sustainable and efficient investments.

For Cárdenas, the climate crisis is a water crisis, and highlighted some effects of climate change, e.g. floods that increased by 80% in the past 20 years, or droughts that are now longer than usual. “We must move from the abundance approach to an efficiency approach in the use of water resources. Latin America faces widespread patterns of inequality and in water too, hence, he said, the idea of water reuse.

Cárdenas spoke of challenges such as the planning of water and sanitation infrastructure with a basin approach, understanding the fundamentals of public water policy and the preservation of the resource in an effort to benefit all of us, without mortgaging future generations.

Two panels completed the interesting program of the meeting. The first addressed the institutional and regulatory framework necessary to advance the circular economy and featured Paraguay’s Minister of Public Works and Communications Rodolfo Segovia, Head of the OECD Water Governance and Circular Economy Unit Oriana Romano, and Segura Hydrographic Confederation President Mario Urrea. The debate was moderated by Franz Rojas-Ortuste, Director of Water and Sanitation Analysis and Technical Evaluation at CAF.

The second round table was presented under the title “Challenges for the implementation of the circular economy” and featured Ignacio Díaz Rodríguez-Valdés, managing director of ESAMUR, Spain; Manuelito Magalhães, CEO of SANASA Campinas, Brazil; Robert Becerra Coelho, operations and maintenance manager of SAGUAPAC, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia and Concepción Marcuello, permanent technical secretary of CODIA, who served as moderator.

The event was adjourned by Pilar Cancela, Secretary of State for International Cooperation, who stressed that the circular economy is first and foremost a political decision. She spoke of the need to work on the circular economy and the challenges we must address in terms of water, climate change, overexploitation of water resources, contamination of surface and groundwater and ensuring the right to drinking water. Cancela highlighted the Spanish cooperation and the different lines of work, including sanitation, water quality or wastewater treatment, as well as Spain’s commitment to Latin America.

Their remarks were followed by Ignacio Corlazzoli, CAF’s Europe, Asia and Middle East Manager

Corlazzoli highlighted the importance of the conference “as a meeting and dialogue point,” and applauded Spain’s contribution in terms of water and sanitation in the region. “We want to do more, help, pre-identify operations,” said the CAF executive, who made special reference to the design of new projects to co-finance with Spanish agencies and companies in the region. He also announced CAF’s support for Spain in the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2023, advancing the CAF Agenda and fostering dialogue with senior representatives of Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.

For the organization of the 8th Water Dialogues, which promote the exchange of experiences in the water sector between Latin America and Spain, CAF also received the support from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, ICEX (Spain Export and Investment), Casa de América and the specialized journal iAgua.