Spain turns off the tap: daily domestic water consumption per inhabitant drops 32 liters in 20 years

The Spanish have become accustomed to turning off the faucet faster.

The consumption of domestic water, which is used to scrub, shower or wash clothes, has fallen 32 liters per day per inhabitant in 20 years, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), with updated data until 2020. If in the In 2001, a Spaniard used an average of 165 liters a day, today 133 liters are enough. Experts believe that the reduction is due to the awareness campaigns for saving water that have permeated the population.

Also to the improvements of the distribution network to avoid unnecessary losses of liquid at home and the efficient advancement of electrical appliances such as washing machines or dishwashers.

The sector and the experts still see room for improvement and believe it is possible and reasonable that in the coming years the figure could drop to 100 litres,

especially in a climate emergency context like the current one.

"Turn off the tap, we are in a drought" is a phrase that, it seems, is here to stay.

Fernando Morcillo, president of the Spanish Association for Water Supply and Sanitation (AEAS), which brings together companies in the sector, celebrates the reduction and highlights the improvement in the planning of the Administrations and management companies for a rational use of water .

“Today, awareness in our country is higher, partly thanks to the saving campaigns during the droughts that we have suffered in recent years.

To give an example: short showers in our country have become widespread”, says Morcillo.

In Europe, the daily supply of water to homes was 147 liters per person in 2017, according to the latest data collected by the European Environment Agency, which does not break down consumption by country.

Morcillo adds: “Being a dry country with water stress, we are more careful.

Precisely that is seen in consumption by territory.

In the communities and cities with the greatest supply problems due to drought, consumption has decreased more.”

Autonomous regions with historical problems of lack of water such as the Balearic Islands (117 liters per day), the Canary Islands (125), Catalonia (124) or Extremadura (120) have figures below the national average.

However, there are also striking data that question the theory that more water is wasted in rainy northern Spain than in dry southern Mediterranean Spain.

The Basque Country, despite being a very rainy community and not suffering from water restrictions, is the only region that in the last INE report has managed to lower the psychological barrier of 100 liters per day,

A woman washes the dishes in a flat in Barcelona.

Massimiliano Minocri

David Saurí, Professor of Human Geography at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and an expert in water management, takes advantage of the good data from the Basque Country to highlight that also in saving water, the difference goes by classes.

“It is a community [Euskadi] with a very high per capita income.

Therefore, it can invest more in improving the distribution networks to prevent leaks and in domestic saving systems”, details the professor, who points out that in homes with appliances such as dishwashers or toilets with a double pulsation system, much more is saved.

This translates into more disadvantaged families consuming more water, not because of lack of awareness, but because of a lack of efficient systems.

The manager of the municipal water company of the Barcelona municipality of El Prat, Aureliano García,

calculates that the water that goes down the toilet accounts for up to 25% of the total consumed in homes.

Running the dishwasher when it's full saves more water than washing dishes by hand every day.

Professor of Chemical Engineering at the

Autonomous University of Madrid Juan José Rodríguez agrees with his colleague Saurí that the advancement of technology has probably been the main reason for this reduction in the last two decades.

"I know young people who stand up for whales but then spend half an hour in the shower..." he says.

Rodríguez asks for progress in this direction and gives an example of a measure that he has already implemented in his house: installing taps with timers, a system that is already widespread in shops, hotels and restaurants.

The professor agrees with the president of AEAS that reaching a consumption of 100 liters in the coming years is possible, although he warns of the danger that the general lack of water in Spain is associated with a rise in prices.

“Are they going to turn water into a commercial good?

Touching prices has to be done with great caution...”, he warns.

The increase in the production of desalinated water in Spain, which leads to high energy consumption, already brings bills with too many decimal places to farmers

The accounts don't work out for us”, Alfonso Romero, secretary of the irrigation community of Alhama (Murcia), complained to this newspaper a week ago.

The unit cost of water (which takes into account both the expenses associated with sewage, treatment and sanitation or discharge fees) stood on average in Spain at 1.92 euros per cubic meter in 2020, 0.5% more than in 2018. Communities with a lot of water stress such as Catalonia (2.66 euros per cubic meter), the Balearic Islands (2.52) and the Region of Murcia (2.51) are the ones with the highest prices.

The consumption data for 2020 would have been, in Saurí's opinion, probably lower were it not for the confinement due to covid.

All in all, despite mobility restrictions, domestic consumption did not grow compared to 2018. "It will be interesting to see what consumption figure will remain after this period of drought," he says.

The professor asks to broaden the gaze and start looking towards the climatically uncertain future decades.

Regarding the goal of reaching 100 liters of daily consumption, the professor warns of a possible fatigue of the citizens.

“There is something that bothers me a lot.

We are already approaching low levels of consumption.

It would be counterproductive to reach a limit in which later, if necessary, people no longer have room to make a greater effort...

50% off

Subscribe to continue reading

read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber