FINANCING OF WATER POLICY: COST RECOVERY OF THE HYDROGRAPHIC CONFEDERATIONS OF SPAIN

Abstract

The shortage of water resources and the complex institutional framework in Spain have originated several different organizations responsible for devising water policy measures that have to share the funding. With this distribution of functions, each organization is responsible for some tasks and with funding to perform them. However, taking into account that in Spain the full financing of all aspects of water policy is not achieved, it is understandable that the Hydrographic Confederations are not capable of recovering the costs of their activities. We must add that the distribution of financial resources may not be the most appropriate, which would leave the Hydrographic Confederations in a complicated situation, this paper intends to examine the current financial situation of these organizations. The results of the analysis show that there is a lack of recovery of financial costs in the main activities, which would be offset by a transfer of external funds to the water policy, since this must necessarily be financed. This also implies that, if the environmental costs are added to the financial costs, the result is a very low cost recovery. In addition, there are activity plans that are not being carried out due to the lack of financing, so it seems appropriate to suggest an increase in prices or water pricing to compensate for this lack of funding.