The College of Industrial Technical Engineers of Tarragona debates the importance of water, a scarce and essential good for the economy

Last Tuesday, October 24, throughout the morning, the College of Industrial Technical Engineers of Tarragona (CETIT) organized the day "The importance of water, a scarce commodity", at the Tarragona seminary. The event made it possible to debate the importance of water, a limited and indispensable resource, by experts in the field who emphasized the role of this natural resource in our lives, our society, and also, our economy. And that it is vitally important to make more efficient use of water.

The day was divided into two blocks. The first was welcomed by Mr. Guillermo García de Castro, councilor for the environment, public space and youth of Tarragona City Council. And then, the first three presentations were given. The first of them, on the use and treatment of water in the chemical industry, by Mr. Daniel Montserrat, director general of AITASA. Then it was the turn of Mr. Xavier Martínez, Director of the Water, Soil and Air Technological Unit of EURECAT who spoke about "the efficient use of water in industry and alternative sources of water. And the third of the presentations focused on advanced quality control for an efficient use of water, by mrs. Josepa Fàbregas, head of the Water Quality department - LQAIGUA technical directorate of the Tarragona Water Consortium. This was followed by a round of debate between the speakers and the audience.

The second block consisted of the last two presentations focused, on the one hand, on the current challenges in urban water management: quantity and quality, from the voice of Mr. Daniel Milán, managing director of EMATSA; and on the control and management of underground water, the most extracted resource in the world, from the hand of the geologist and consultant, mr. Álvaro Arasa, member of the EbreRecerca group. Again, a round of questions opened up among the attendees.

The day was closed by the dean of CETIT, Mr. Joan G. Talarn who encouraged a common front to mitigate the effects of the drought and highlighted the importance of this essential resource in all economic sectors.

The presence of water in human history is one of the keys to our development and evolution. Currently, it is greatly threatened by population growth, the growing demands of industry and agriculture and the impacts of climate change. We must remember the relevance of fresh water as a vital resource to have water in adequate quantity and quality for consumption and other necessary uses.

In a world where droughts are becoming more relentless and environmental pollution remains a concern, protecting our water resources is critical. The effects of climate change on water become visible, above all, in the form of droughts, floods or storms. To fight against the scarcity of this resource and its pollution, the preservation of groundwater is important, since it constitutes 99% of the Earth's fresh water and provides up to 50% of the water used in different needs of society. Likewise, the reuse of regenerated waste water for specific uses that do not require the quality of water suitable for consumption plays a key role, allowing in this way to increase the availability of water resources.