This is the accepted version of the journal article: Saurí i Pujol, David. «The decline of water consumption in Spanish cities : structural and contingent factors». International Journal of Water Re- sources Development, Vol. 36 Núm. 6 (2020), p. 909-925. 17 pàg. DOI 10.1080/07900627.2019.1634999 This version is available at https://ddd.uab.cat/record/287658 under the terms of the license THE DECLINE OF WATER CONSUMPTION IN SPANISH CITIES: STRUCTURAL AND CONTINGENT FACTORS David Sauri Departament de Geografia Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain David.sauri@uab.cat Accepted for publication in International Journal of Water Resources Development 1 Abstract As cities will concentrate most of the world population and economic activities, urban water demand will absorb a large proportion of global water demand in the future. In contrast, recent empirical evidence indicates that water consumption in many cities of the developed world is declining. In this paper, this decline in consumption is studied for the major Spanish cities and some of the drivers of this decline (economic, technological and behavioral) are explored. The paper also argues that contingent events such as droughts and economic crises may intensify the decline in consumption as shown for the case of Barcelona. Key Words: Water, cities, declining consumptions, impacts, Spain, Barcelona Introduction Past trends and future projections on worldwide water demand and consumption coincide in pointing towards a continued expansion that, despite regional variations, may intensify in the next decades due to population growth and economic development (Alcamo et al 2007; Flörke et al 2013; Wada et al 2016). A significant amount of this growth will occur in cities and especially in the mega capitals of the developing world (United Nations 2018a). Even though irrigation will still be by far the highest driver of global water demand, manufacturing (including energy) and urban uses will experience the fastest growth rates (Hejazi et al 2013). Because of the increase in water demand, world freshwater supplies are projected to come under mounting pressures. In some world regions, water stress will probably be exacerbated by climate change and related hazards, especially beyond the 1.5 °C scenario (IPCC 2018). Thus water scarcity conditions, either temporal or permanent, are foreseen for some of the most populated areas of the world including the booming cities of the Global South. The combination between increasing demand and dwindling supplies poses an enormous challenge to urban and water planners and decision makers worldwide with drastic changes needed if goals of safe and reliable water supply and sanitation for all are to be met (Tortajada and Biswas, 2017). Domestic water supply and consumption is already at the top of the agenda of many international organizations and programs such as the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations 2018b). Differences between cities of the Global North and of the Global South regarding access to water supply must be considered along with internal differences in these 2 cities. In some urban areas of the Global North, for instance, access to water may not be limited by lack of infrastructure but by lack of capacity to afford costs while in cities of the Global South stark differences in access can be found between the so called “formal city” and the “informal city” with water comparatively more expensive in the latter than in the former (Swyngedouw 2004). This global picture of increasing consumption, decreasing supplies, struggles for access and grim scenarios of water scarcity for many of the world cities needs to be contrasted with empirical evidence on current trends in consumption as well as in access and affordability of water. In this sense, the paper attempts to explore two hypotheses. First, that domestic consumption does not follow an increasing trend everywhere. Rather, and at least for many urban areas of the developed world, evidence points at reductions in consumption (Hotlos et al 2012; DeOreo and Mayer 2012; Donnelly and Cooley, 2015; March and Sauri, 2015 ; Baldino and Sauri, 2018; Rockaway 2011; Cahill and Lund, 2013; Stavenhagen et al 2018 ). Second, in this process of declining consumption inequities may appear through, for instance, higher economic costs for vulnerable consumers (Aqua Publica Europea, 2016 ; Mack and Wrase 2017; Morote et al 2016). The hypotheses stated above will be examined by looking at the case of water consumption trends in the eight largest Spanish cities for the period 2003- 2016. This period has been selected according to data availability and to the fact that the year 2003 recorded a peak in water consumption for many Spanish cities. In examining water consumption decline, the paper will differentiate between structural causes or long term factors eliciting purposeful and non- purposeful actions, and contingent factors such as severe droughts or periods of economic and social hardship. Next and focusing on the Spanish case, the specific impacts of structural trends in economic and financial aspects, technology and behavior, and also the impact of contingent natural and social events in domestic water consumption will be examined. The paper will make a special reference to the case of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona which suffered two almost consecutive events with strong impacts on water consumption: the drought of 2007-2008 and the economic crisis beginning in 2008 and extending during the following decade. Methods used included a review of existing literature on the subject of factors behind water consumption decline and data compilation and analysis on recent water consumption for the main Spanish cities. In the context of this paper consumption in cities refers to domestic consumption and not to industrial, commercial or municipal consumption. Typically, in Spain domestic consumption represents about 65 per cent of total urban consumption. 3 The paper is organized as follows. First, a brief contextual account on water in Spain, emphasizing the high exposure to current and future climatic extremes and present trends in domestic water consumption for the eight largest Spanish cities is provided. Second, the paper introduces the main drivers of domestic water consumption decline and characterizes them for the Spanish case. Third, and in order to illustrate the relevance of structural and contingent factors in domestic water decline, a special reference to the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, suffering consecutively a major drought and a long period of economic crisis, is made. Fourth, in the conclusions, the paper attempts to cast lights (growing citizen awareness for water conservation, for instance) and shadows (affordability issues for vulnerable populations) on this decline. The decline of domestic water consumption in Spain The climate of Spain can be generally defined as Mediterranean except from the Northern and Northwestern areas where patterns are more Atlantic. Average precipitation attains some 630 mm annually with strong differences between the rainy North (Cantabria coast, 1700mm per year) and the arid Southeast (less than 200 mm a year). Climate change projections point at a reduction of precipitation values towards the middle of the 21st century and beyond accompanied by an intensification of hydrological extremes (Moreno-Rodriguez, 2005). Droughts, in particular, are recurrent phenomena in the Iberian Peninsula and, as it is common in Mediterranean climates, may last several years (Olcina 2001) During the last decades the most important droughts, affecting different parts of Spain, were those of 1980-83; 1991-95; 2005-2005-2008, and 2014- 2017 (Tejedor et al 2016; Villarreal et al 2017). Dryland agriculture in Central and Southern Spain; irrigated agriculture in Eastern and Southeastern Spain and cities also in Central, Southern and Eastern Spain as well as the Balearic Islands are especially exposed. Many cities including Seville, Palma de Mallorca, Tarragona or Cadiz have suffered domestic cuts (Seville only had water 10 hours a day in 1993-94) and some, such as Mallorca or Barcelona had to be supplied by trucks or even by tankers during drought crises (March et al 2013). Urban water supply barely represents some 15 percent of total water use in Spain which is overwhelmingly dominated by irrigation. Data for the period 2000-2014 shows how water distributed and metered in Spanish municipalities has decreased by 17% (INE, 2016). Most of this decrease has concentrated in municipal and commercial/industrial uses ( 36 percent reduction for the former and 18.5 percent reduction for the later), reflecting a variety of causes such as the effects of economic restructuring and the shutdown of manufacturing activities; budgetary 4 deficits in many municipalities as well as gains in efficiency and use of alternative resources. Domestic consumption increased its proportion over the total (from 65 to almost 70 percent) decreasing less (11 percent) than productive sectors or municipal uses. Overall, average domestic consumption per capita fell 27 percent during the period, from 168 liters/person/day (lpd) to 132 lpd. Per capita consumptions tend to be higher in medium and smaller municipalities and below the average in larger municipalities (INE, 2016). The decrease in domestic water consumption is especially significant in large cities. Table 1 and Figure 1 show the change in domestic water consumption ( in lpd) for the seven largest Spanish cities (population above 400,000 people) between 2003 and 2016. Table 1. Domestic water consumption for selected Spanish cities [2003-2016] (liters/person/day, lpd) Year Madrid Barcelona Zaragoza Valencia Palma de Seville Murcia Mallorca 2003 152 128 129 124 135,5 144 135,5 2004 148 127 128 122 132,5 142 132 2005 155 123 124 119 133 139 141 2006 141 118 123 118 130,5 137 138 2007 136 115 115 118 123 136 126 2008 133 113 106 114,5 124 130 124 2009 138 110 105 113 121 128 125 2010 129 110 104 109 118 124 113 2011 130 110 100 107,5 117,5 121 122 2012 127 108 100 105 117 116 118 2013 125 106 99 102,5 116 111 109 2014 125 105 97,5 103 115,5 108 2015 127 106 96,5 102 109,5 2016 128 107 100 103 107 Source: Compiled from information by City Councils and municipal or metropolitan water companies. 5 Figure 1. Domestic water consumption (liters/person/day) for selected Spanish cities. 2003-2016 Source: Elaborated from data in Table 1 On average, for the seven cities domestic water consumption declined from 135 lpd in 2003 to 110 lpd in 2016; that is a reduction of almost 23 percent. The highest decline occurred in Seville (34.5 percent) while the lowest was registered in Palma de Mallorca (15 percent). In both years the highest per capita consumption was recorded in Madrid while the lowest value was found in Valencia for 2003 and in Zaragoza for 2016. Regarding population, some cities such as Seville lost population (probably to their metropolitan areas). Others increased their numbers but relatively little (Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia) while others expanded more vigorously (Zaragoza, and especially Palma de Mallorca and Murcia). The evolution of population figures in all cities does not follow a steady pattern during the period considered. Rather, there are periods of population growth (up to 2009-2011 in most cases) followed by periods of population decline. Average domestic water consumption; however, does 6 not seem to be affected by population trends and consistently declines in both, periods of population growth and in periods of population decline (Table 2). What is remarkable is that cities experiencing important population expansion, such as Murcia or Palma de Mallorca, continue reducing their per capita water consumption. Table 2. Change in water consumption (lpd) and change in population. Selected Spanish cities 2003-2016 City Change in water Change in population Consumption Madrid -15.79 2.35 Barcelona -16.4 1.64 Valencia -16.94 1.22 Seville -25.69 -2.73 Zaragoza -22.48 5.59 Murcia (*) -19.47 12 Palma Mallorca (**) -14.76 8.7 (*) 2003- 2013 (**) 2003-2014 Source: Own elaboration Next, these changes in domestic water consumption are assessed in the light of the three main factors outlined above: economic, technological, and behavioral, and their specific role in water demand management in Spain (Tortajada et al, 2019). Economic factors The effects of economic instruments such as prices and taxes on domestic water demand have been long studied in urban water management. Economic instruments remain widely favored in water policy, for example in OECD documents (OECD 1999) or in the European Water Framework Directive of 2000 (Bithas 2008). The argument is that, in many cases, water conservation cannot advance because water prices and taxes are too low and far from covering the full costs of the water cycle. Therefore, rises in prices and taxation would lead to more responsible consumption (Howe, 1982; Rogers et al 2002; Reynaud and Romano 2018). However, since water is a fundamental, non-substitutable component of human life, in economic terms it tends to be more responsive to prices for non-essential uses than for essential uses so that the demand of the latter 7 is inelastic (Dalhuisen et al. 2003). Policies addressed to curb consumption therefore need to be attentive to balance equity and efficiency and not translate the conservation burden to essential uses (Billings and Aghte, 1980 ; Nieswiadomy and Cobb, 1993; Renwick and Archibald, 1998; Garcia Valiñas 2005; Raynaud, 2016). . In Spain, water prices show an enormous disparity (Bagué et al 2013). Generally water is more expensive in the Mediterranean coast and in the islands and less expensive in the interior and in the Northern regions. In 2016, Murcia and Barcelona, with water bills above 500 euros per year for a consumption of 175 m3 (average consumption of a 4 member household), topped the ranking of Spanish cities, followed by Palma de Mallorca (441 euros), Seville (394 euros) and Valencia (376 euros). At the other extreme, the cost for a similar consumption in Madrid was of 271 euros and in Zaragoza of 269 euros (OCU 2016). Water companies and public agencies with responsibilities in the water cycle resorted to rising prices and taxes to equilibrate their budgets during the worst years of the economic crisis (March ad Sauri, 2013). According to OCU (2016), water bills in Spanish cities rose 29 percent on average between 2009 and 2016, period which coincided with the hardest years of the economic crisis. For example, between 2009 and 2013 unemployment had risen to 25 percent of the working population. Moreover, in 2013, 17 percent of households declared “a lot of difficulty in arriving at the end of the month” up from 10.7 percent in 2007 (INE, 2013). Technological factors Technology and its application at multiple scales is also a major player in the reduction of water consumption. In urban areas, technology has been used to improve the efficiency of the supply network by detecting and repairing leaks and other causes of water losses and by ensuring more precise methods for recording consumption including meters and more recently “smart” meters (Boyle et al 2013). Water saving technology has entered households, especially in bathrooms and kitchens prompting multiple studies on the relationships between these technologies and behavior by consumers ( Makki et al 2011; Richter and Stamminger 2012; Lee et al 2013) . Fixtures such as low flow toilets or pressure reductors in taps are now much more common than in the past. Likewise, dishwashers and washing machines have achieved considerable reductions in the amount of water they use. However, one important caveat regarding domestic water saving technologies is that these technologies may be costly and therefore only accessible to well off 8 households (Millock and Nauges, 2010). Hence, those more in need to save water in order to lower their water bills may not be able to afford these more efficient technologies. In 2006, Spain passed The Technical Code for Buildings according to which taps, showers and WCs in new apartment and commercial blocks had to be equipped with water saving devices. However, campaigns for subsidized retrofitting as in California or Australia have been limited to the occasional distribution of small devices to regulate flows in taps and showers. Some water companies such as the Canal de Isabel Segunda of Madrid have been active in promoting home conservation fixtures ( Cubillo et al , 2008). On the other hand, some municipalities, most notably in the Barcelona area, have passed legislation requiring mandatory use of indoor fixtures but also of alternative resources such as greywater or rainwater (Vallès-Casas et al 2016). Hotels, especially in large tourist destinations, have been keen on adopting water conservation fixtures in rooms and common areas (Gabarda-Mallorquí, 2016; Rico et al, 2019). Behavioral factors Changes in consumer behavior towards more responsible uses of water are also major factors in the reduction of consumption (Seelen et al 2019). Many cities and not necessarily those located in water stressed areas have implemented public communication programs advising citizens to consume less water and some sectors such as the hotel industry routinely ask customers to be more responsible in their water consumption behavior (Gossling et al 2015). Most messages target indoor uses, especially in the bathroom, while messages targeted at outdoor uses focus especially on the species composition of gardens and garden irrigation systems. Schoolchildren are a group of particular interest under the belief that, if properly educated, they may influence their parents behavior (Damerell et al 2013). The effectiveness of these campaigns, at least for cases such as that of Barcelona or of Californian and Australian cities, appears to be related to the presence or not of drought conditions and especially to the intensity of media attention ( March and Sauri 2013; Quesnel and Ajami 2017). Water conservation campaigns have been constantly present as one of the most important strategies to save water in Spanish cities since at least the droughts of the early 1980s (Del Moral and Giansante, 2000) with cities such as Zaragoza having a long and active history of water awareness actions (Staenhagen et al 2018). These campaigns are usually promoted by city councils or by water supply companies, although in some cases, provincial and regional 9 governments take also an active stance (March et al, 2013). The most common strategy is to provide extensive but easy to understand information to citizens regarding changes in consumption habits (March et al, 2015). The usual media (street advertising, radio and TV announcements, and more recently internet social networks) are profusely used. As said before, particular targets are schools and schoolchildren for whom specific tools (animated cartoons, stories, and even theater plays) are prepared (EMASA, 2019). In cities with a strong presence of international tourism such as Palma de Mallorca, campaigns are undertaken in several languages especially addressed to citizens with little or no experience in water conservation (Ibeconomía, 2016). Some campaigns may even distribute freely kits to be installed in taps or showers (March et al 2013). The effectiveness of these campaigns is open to discussion and some of the messages passed on to consumers may not be entirely attentive to the social and urban context. For example, in Spain messages may be issued asking the public to take showers instead of baths in areas where the presence of baths in apartments is relatively small (March et al, 2015). As one would expect, campaigns work better during periods of drought mostly because of the intensification of communication efforts. For example, during the drought of Barcelona of 2008, daily news in radio, TV and the press almost always opened with news about the drought insisting time and again on the critical importance of saving water The media campaign was so intense that in a poll about the problems that raised more concern for Barcelona citizens, water appeared for the first time at the top of preoccupations and above unemployment, security and other public worries (March et al 2013). The perfect storm. Drought and economic crisis in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona Contingent factors in domestic water reduction may be defined as factors or drivers that are not the product of more or less conscious decisions to save water. Rather, they tend to come in the form of relatively unexpected events that may produce important impacts on water consumption ( Gil-Olcina et al, 2015) . In the case of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona See Figure 2), two consecutive contingent factors, first, the most severe drought in more than 60 years and second, the worst economic crisis since the 1970s, had a deep and lasting effect on domestic water consumption. While the drought was unique to this area and short in duration, the economic crisis affected and still affects the rest of Spain as well producing important effects on the affordability of water (March and Sauri, 2016). 10 Figure 2. Municipalities of the AMB served by Aigües de Barcelona (in grey) Source: Own elaboration. For the purposes of this paper, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) is constituted the 23 municipalities served by the company “Aigües de Barcelona” (Barcelona Water). Four municipalities that administratively belong to the AMB are served by different water companies and are not considered here In 2008, water supply in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona was based on surface water provided by the reservoirs of the Ter-LLobregat river system complemented with groundwater from the lower Llobregat river valley. All these sources contributed annually with some 611 Hm3 (85 percent surface water and 15 percent groundwater) while demand was 592 Hm3 in 2007 (ACA, 2008). These figures indicate that security margins were relatively tight, increasing the frequency of drought periods defined according to the amount of water stored in reservoirs. The worst case scenario is represented by periods with below average rainfall lasting more than a year. This is precisely what happened in 2008, when, after a rainless year, reservoirs fell to 20 percent of their capacity, requiring emergency actions such as the shipment of water with tankers from Tarragona 11 and Marseilles (March et al 2013). Drought protocols issued by the Catalan Water Agency mandated the prohibition of non-essential uses such as garden irrigation in cases of emergency which was made effective in the winter and early spring of 2008. Awareness campaigns already in motion intensified to include not only more messages urging to save water but also the distribution of a kit to reduce water flow in taps in the Sunday edition of the main newspapers (March et al 2013). After a rainy period in late spring 2008 that filled the reservoirs again and just before the desalination plant of El Prat began to operate in mid-2009, the world economic crisis struck Spain very hard. Growth rates recorded negative figures and unemployment rose rapidly towards double digits. The crisis also shut down the possibility of borrowing money by public administrations and public debt soared bringing to a standstill many water related projects (March and Sauri , 2013). Response by companies and regulatory bodies was to increase water prices and taxes in a moment when incomes, especially for the poor and unemployed, fell drastically. One of the most immediate consequences of diminished incomes was that many households could not cope with utility expenses including water (Yoon 2018). Hence, the devastating combination of falling revenues and higher prices for many households inevitably led to the multiplication of payment defaults and cutoffs in the service. According to the Spanish Association of Public Companies of Water Supply and Sanitation, some 300,000 water cut-offs occurred in Spain in 2013 ( El País, 2014) . Together with the energy poverty, water poverty had begun to be a familiar problem for many Spanish households. Metropolitan Barcelona has always been characterized by a relatively modest consumption of water. Consumptions per capita tend to be is lower than in other Spanish urban areas and far behind other cities of the world with similar climatic characteristics. To a large extent this is explained by the urban layout characterized by high densities that embraces also the core cities of the metropolitan area (Domene and Sauri, 2006). Therefore, in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona most of the domestic uses of water are indoor uses, although a few small towns of the peripheries of the Metropolitan Area follow the low density pattern in which with outdoor uses more common, especially gardens and swimming pools. Figure 3 shows the relationship between urban density and relative domestic water consumption in the area. 12 Figure 3. Urban density and water consumption in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona 45.000 L´Hospitalet de Llobregat Net density [residents/km2 urban land] 40.000 35.000 Cornellà Sta. Coloma Gram. 30.000 Barcelona Sant Adrià 25.000 Badalona Sant Joan Despí 20.000 Sant Boi Viladecans 15.000 Esplugues Montcada i Reixac Gavà 10.000 Montgat Castelldefels Cerdanyola Sant Just 5.000 Desvern Sta. Coloma de Pallejà Torrelles Cervelló Begues de… 0 90,0 95,0 100,0 105,0 110,0 115,0 120,0 125,0 130,0 135,0 140,0 Water Consumption [Lpd] Source: Elaborated with data from Aigües de Barcelona and Corinne Land Cover map (2012) The evolution of domestic water consumption during the last three decades is characterized by a certain growth from 1994 to 2003 and by a steady decrease since that year (March at al , 2012). The peak of 2003 may be related to the summer heatwave of that year which boosted domestic demand but it is probably an anomaly since consumption may have started to decline already in the 1990s ( March et al, 2013; March and Sauri, 2016). Table 3 shows the evolution of water consumption in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona for the period 2007-2013, differentiating between total consumption and domestic consumption. Decline in consumption is widespread although more intense for the category “total consumption”, that includes commercial, industrial and municipal as well as domestic uses, than for the category “domestic consumption (11 percent and 6 percent respectively). 13 Table 3. Total consumption and domestic consumption (in million cubic meters), and relative domestic consumption ( in liters/person/day, lpd) for the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. 2007 and 2013 Total Total Domestic Domestic consumption Domestic consumption Domestic consumption consumption 2007 consumption 2013 consumption lpd lpd 2007 2013 2007 2013 Barcelona 105 334 384 67 742 317 94 675 794 63 783 528 116.35 108.42 L´Hospitalet Llob 13 282 331 9 431 901 11 313 019 8 680 756 102.60 93.61 Cornellà 4 871 019 3 131 048 4 236 171 2 979 366 101.54 94.16 Gavà 3 091 274 2 105 419 2 636 943 1 944 452 129.11 114.87 Sant Boi Llobregat 4 829 402 3 199 371 4 237 128 3 041 147 108.58 99.89 Sta. Coloma Cerv 491 982 331 244 380 983 315 599 120.87 107.28 Viladecans 3 235 106 2 517 125 3 003 977 2 454 206 111.74 102.74 Castelldefels 4 215 800 3 281 255 3 777 171 2 999 526 152.48 130.28 Torrelles Llob. 322 458 290 571 284 137 250 806 160.05 118.96 Esplugues 2 856 139 1 963 533 2 575 545 1 841 378 116.22 108.10 Sant Feliu 2 382 207 1 672 777 2 081 859 1 579 497 108.41 98.87 Sant Joan Despí 1 989 196 1 282 449 1 815 244 1 214 236 110.94 101.39 Sant Just Desvern 1 514 806 820 844 1 236 609 769 140 146.12 124.99 Badalona 11 196 192 8 647 105 9 809 604 7 982 955 109.58 99.55 Cerdanyola 3 585 318 2 320 770 3 180 484 2 133 829 110.08 101.42 Montcada i Reixac 2 449 703 1 286 610 2 046 565 1 319 653 109.77 103.71 Montgat 546 918 450 990 531 650 465 889 126.36 115.46 Sant Adrià 2 224 623 1 232 457 1 978 664 1 249 801 103.15 98.33 Sta. Coloma Gram 5 875 007 4 438 323 4 830 132 4 088 490 104.14 93.32 Begues 515 564 383 088 378 486 315 457 177.95 131.15 El Papiol 307 086 181 046 235 202 176 522 131.19 119.68 Pallejà 767 486 598 930 647 732 514 676 151.67 125.81 Sant Climent Llob 184 684 148 756 164 612 143 964 112.24 100.62 TOTAL 176 068 685 117 457 929 156 057 711 110 244 873 114.31 105.29 Source: Elaborated with data from Aigües de Barcelona and IDESCAT 14 Decline affected mostly non domestic uses and low density municipalities with widespread presence of outdoor uses, and, to an important extent, it can be attributed to the ban on public and private garden irrigation. This is corroborated by the strong reductions in consumption during the summer months in some municipalities. Begues, a small town with numerous gardens and swimming pools that registers the highest water consumption per capita of the AMB, reduced its June to September consumption by more than 50 percent between 2007 and 2013. Therefore, the highest reductions in per capita consumption during the drought affected especially the municipalities with highest consumption and were very likely related to mandatory or voluntary restrictions in outdoor uses. Regarding domestic uses, average consumption fell from 114 liters/person/day (lpd) in 2007 to 105 lpd in 2013; that is a reduction of almost 8 percent. Most of the strongest declines occurred in the small low density towns located in the periphery of the Metropolitan Area while reductions in the densest municipalities were smaller. The expected rebound effect associated with the end of the drought did not occur and consumptions continued to decline after 2008. Given the fact that the purchase of domestic appliances, including washing machines and dishwashers, fell by 50 percent between 2007 and 2015 (El Periódico de la Energía, 2015) and that housing construction collapsed during the same period (Burriel, 2016) the continuous decline in consumption may only be marginally attributed to technological improvements in households. Water awareness campaigns diminished in intensity but did not cease after the drought. However, per capita consumptions in many metropolitan municipalities around or even below 100 lpd could indicate that the margin for achieving further reductions was becoming smaller. To an important extent therefore, economic factors were behind most of the decline post-2008 as households responded to falling incomes and rising prices and taxes by, among other actions, cutting water use (March and Sauri , 2016) . In the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, prices and taxes follow the block tariff system with three blocks separated by thresholds of 6, 12 and 18 cubic meters per household per month respectively. Between 2007 and 2013 the price of each block rose almost 50% (half of which in a single year, 2011 to 2012). Regarding taxes, tariffs also rose but in this case thresholds were modified adding a fourth block nine times more expensive than the first block and addressed to curb consumptions in outdoor uses. But for block 2 (where most customers are located), the regulatory body (ACA) lowered the threshold from 18 to 15 cubic meters Moreover, VAT increased from 7 to 10 percent during this period. On the other hand, the introduction in 2012 of a fourth and very expensive 15 block in the water tax may have also induced further reductions in outdoor uses especially garden irrigation (March and Sauri, 2016). Hence, rising prices and taxes coupled with rising unemployment and diminishing ability to pay the water bills may have forced households to maintain and even intensify reductions in water use. Common strategies in this regard were, for example, to shower in municipal sports facilities or in the homes of family or friends (Yoon, 2018). On the other hand, the crisis also impacted hard on other urban uses as a consequence of the decline in economic activity and the closing down of many industrial and commercial facilities. Thus between 2007 and 2012, urban industrial uses in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona declined almost 20 per cent while urban commercial uses declined 12.5 percent ( Gil Olcina et al, 2015). In order to treat separately the effects on consumption of the drought and of the economic crisis, Table 4 compares water consumptions for the two periods. The period corresponding to the drought ( 2007-2008) and the period post-drought, roughly coinciding with the worst years of the economic crisis (2009-2013). From table 4, it can be deduced that municipalities with higher incomes and low density urban layouts appear to have experienced the most important part of the reduction in water consumption during the drought (2007-2008) while municipalities with lower incomes and high density urban layouts tend to concentrate most of the reduction during the period of the crisis (2009-2013). From the table it can be also noticed that the largest reductions in consumption are found in the low density, richer municipalities whereas reductions in the high density, less well-off municipalities are smaller. This is not surprising given the mandatory ban on outdoor uses and especially garden irrigation during the drought period and also given that consumptions per capita in the dense, low income municipalities were already low and further reductions would have been increasingly problematic for users consuming less than 100 lpd. 16 Table 4. Change in domestic water consumption per capita (lpd) in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona for the period 2007-2008 and for the period 2009-2013 (in percentage) 2007-08 2009-2013 Municipalities (drought) (economic crisis) Barcelona -6.4 -2.98 L´Hospitalet de Llobregat -6.7 -7.27 Cornellà -10.3 -3.85 Gavà -7.5 -6.98 Sant Boi -6.2 -5.59 Sta. Coloma de Cervelló -19.6 -1.03 Viladecans -2.1 -4.32 Castelldefels -8.2 -3.91 Torrelles de Llobregat -12.9 -4.39 Esplugues -7.8 -3.06 Sant Feliu -9.5 -1.61 Sant Joan Despí -7.6 -3.17 Sant Just Desvern -13.1 -8.41 Badalona -4.6 -6.48 Cerdanyola -10.1 -4.38 Montcada i Reixac -4.0 -9.25 Montgat -3.4 0.64 Sant Adrià -2.1 -7.75 Sta. Coloma Gram. -5.5 -7.49 Begues -19.8 -17.76 El Papiol -2.8 -17.94 Pallejà -13.3 -10.10 Sant Climent de Llobregat -4.0 -9.07 TOTAL -6.6 -4.19 Source: Elaborated with data from Aigües de Barcelona 17 In sum, both groups of municipalities (high income and low income) reduced their water consumption during the period of reference. However, while the first group probably cut down non-essential uses such as garden irrigation, the second group, or at least part of it, had to reduce more essential uses related to basic functions in the household in order to lower water bills. In this sense, several municipalities in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona may be experiencing cases of water poverty defined not in terms of accessibility ( as in developing countries) but in terms of affordability (Mack and Wrase, 2017). According to the latest Survey on Living Conditions in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona some 116,000 households (almost 9 percent of the total) are defined as “water poor” because they dedicate more than 3 percent of their income to pay the water bills (Domene et al, 2018). “Aigües de Barcelona” (Barcelona Water), the company supplying the area, offers a social tariff of 0.4 €/m3 for the first 66 liters/capita/day, and the same company together with local social services and other institutions, offers also discount vouchers contingent upon low consumptions. Therefore, at least for part of the water poor, there are incentives to reduce consumption even further but this objective is hard to achieve given that current consumptions barely meet the minimum requirements regarding hygiene and comfort. Conclusion This paper has examined water consumption decline in urban areas taking Spain and, at a finer scale, the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona as examples. Somehow against the current opinion forecasting important increases in global urban water demand for the following decades, the paper argues that recent empirical data for many cities in the developed world would sustain the case for reductions in water consumption at least in many cities of the developed world. Causes behind this tend are multiple and the paper proposes to divide them between structural o those linked to conscious, relatively long term but steady actions taken by individuals or organizations, and contingent or those linked to more specific events ( in our case droughts and economic crises) that may accelerate structural trends (Horne, 2018) . Data on water consumption trends for the most important Spanish cities has been presented confirming the declining trend between 2003 and 2016 and discussing the relative importance of economic, technological and behavioral drivers of this decline (Albiol and Agulló, 2014). Reductions in water consumption accompanied by an increasing presence of water resources in principle decoupled of climatic constraints such as desalination and to a certain extent water reuse may provide a response to the challenges posed by both urban growth, droughts, and climate change (Buurman et al , 2017; Rossi and Cancelliere, 18 2013). Nevertheless, a strong note of caution and an important dose of critical thinking must be added to this line of reasoning. First of all, the challenges of providing reliable and safe water and sanitation to the burgeoning cities of the Global South appear enormous and will imply a massive, unprecedented mobilization of resources (Horne et al, 2018). Second, reductions in water consumption have come at a cost and tend to fall upon the shoulders of low income households which, as the paper has attempted to show for the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, are becoming water poor. Affordability of water and also of energy will likely be a major challenge for cities of the developed world characterized by growing social and economic inequities. In this sense it is urgent that directions towards sustainable uses of water in cities incorporate fully notions of water justice so that the “conservation burden” does not fall disproportionally on the more vulnerable. Acknowledgments The author would like to thank professors Asit Biswas and Cecilia Tortajada for the kind invitation to participate in the Workshop “Managing Domestic and Industrial Water Demands” organized by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, in December 2018. Part of this research was funded by the Instituto Interuniversitario de Geografía of the University of Alicante, Spain, and by the Spanish CICYT under grant number CSO2015-65182-C2-1-P. I also want to thank my colleagues Antonio Rico, María Hernandez and Alvaro Morote and, especially, Hug March for fruitful discussions on this topic. Finally, comments, suggestions and criticisms by two anonymous referees and by the editor have contributed significantly to improve the quality of the manuscript. References 19 ACA (Agència Catalana de l’Aigua). (2008). L’Aigua a Catalunya [Water in Catalonia]. Available at http://aca.gencat.cat/web/.content/10_ACA/J_Publicacions/02-publicacions/03- aigua_a_catalunya_2008.pdf. Albiol, C., & Agulló, F. (2014). La reducción del consumo de agua en España: causas y tendencias [The reduction of water consumption in Spain: causes and trends]. Available at https://www.fundacionaquae.org/sites/default/files/aquaepapers6es_0.pdf Alcamo, J., Flörke, M., & Märker, M. (2007). Future long-term changes in global water resources driven by socio-economic and climatic changes, Hydrological Sciences Journal, 52, 247–275. doi.org/10.1623/hysj.52.2.247 Aqua Publica Europea (2016). Water affordability public operators’ views and approaches on tackling water poverty. Available at https://www.aquapublica.eu/document/water-affordability- public-operators-views-and-approaches-tackling-water-poverty Arbués, F.,García-Valiñas, M.A., & Martínez-Espiñeira R. (2003). Estimation of residential water demand: a state-of-the-art review. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 32, 81-102. doi.org/10.1016/S1053-5357(03)00005-2 Arbués, F., & Villanua, I. (2006). Potential for pricing policies in water resource management: Estimation of urban residential water demand in Zaragoza, Spain. Urban Studies, 43, 2421-2442. doi: 10.1080=00420980601038255 Bagué, J. (ed) (2013). Estudio sobre el precio del agua en España [Study on the Price of Water in Spain] AquaePapers, 1. Fundación Aquology. Available at http://www.fundacionaquae.org/publicaciones/publicacion/aquae-papers-1 Baldino, N. & Sauri, D. (2018). Characterizing the recent decline of water consumption in Italian cities, Investigaciones Geográficas , 69, 9-21. doi: 10.14198/INGEO2018.69.01 Billings, R.B. & Agthe, D.E. (1980). Price elasticities for water: A case of increasing block-rates, Land Economics, 56, 73-84. Bithas, K. (2008). The European policy on water use at the urban level in the context of the Water Framework Directive. Effectiveness, appropriateness and efficiency. European Planning Studies, 16(9), 1293–1311. doi.org/10.1080/09654310802401789 Boyle, T., Giurco, D., Mukheibir, P., Liu, A., Moy, C., White, S., & Stewart, R. (2013). Intelligent Metering for Urban Water: A Review. Water, 5 , 1052–1081. doi.org/10.3390/w5031052 Burriel, E.L. (2016). Empty Urbanism: the bursting of the Spanish housing bubble. Urban Research & Practice, 9 (2), 58-180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17535069.2015.1110196. Buurman, J., Mens, M.J.P. & Dahm, R.J. (2017). Strategies for urban drought risk management: a comparison of 10 large cities. Internatinal Journal of water Resources Development, 33(1), 31-50. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2016.1138398 Cahill, R. &Lund, J. (2013). Residential Water Conservation in Australia and California. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 139:117-121. doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943- 5452.0000225 Cubillo, F., Moreno, T., & Ortega, S. (2008). Microcomponentes y factores explicativos del consumo doméstico de agua en la Comunidad de Madrid [Microcomponetns and explanatory factors of domestic water consumpotion in Madrid] Available at https://www.canaldeisabelsegunda.es/documents/20143/0/28_CONSUMO+DOM%C3%89STICO_ 20 Electr%C3%B3nico_reducido+%281%29.pdf/2a185e67-2bc6-be46-ac33- db81ba105ec3?t=1551878535179 Dalhuisen, J. M., Florax R.G.M.J., de Groot H.L.F., & Nijkamp P. (2003). Price and income elasticities of residential water demand: A meta-analysis. Land Economics, 79, 292-308. Doi: 10.2307/3146872 Damerell, P., Howe, C., & Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2013). Child-orientated environmental education influences adult knowledge and household behaviour. Environmental Research Letters, 8(1), 1-15. doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/015016 DeOreo, W. & Mayer, P. (2012). Insights into declining single-family residential water demands,” Journal - American Water Works Association, 104(6), 383-394. doi: 10.5942/jawwa.2012.104.0080 Del Moral, L.&Giansante, C. 2000. Constraints to drought contingency planning in Spain: the hydraulic paradigm and the case of Seville. Journal of Contingency Crisis and Management, 8, 93– 102. DOI: 10.1111/1468-5973.00128 Domene, E., & Sauri, D. (2006). Urbanization and water consumption: Influencing factors in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona. Urban Studies 43, 1605-1623. doi: 10.1080=00420980600749969 Domene, M. Garcia Sierra, M. Pons, A. (2018). Pobresa hídrica i energètica a l’àrea metropolitana de Barcelona [Water poverty and energy poverty in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona] Anuari Metropolità de Barcelona 2017. Bellaterra: Institut d’Estudis Urbans i Metropolitans. Donnelly, K & Cooley, H. (2015). Water Use Trends in the United States. Oakland, California: The Pacific Institute. (available at http://pacinst.org/publication/water-use-trends-in-the-united- states) El País. 2014. Los cortes de agua por impago se disparan con la crisis [Water cut-offs boom because of the economic crisis]. (Available at https://elpais.com/sociedad/2014/02/17/actualidad/1392670324_651915.html El Periódico de la Energía (2015). El uso de electrodomésticos más eficientes genera hasta 475 euros de ahorro al año [The use of efficient appliances saves 475 euros per year] (available at https://elperiodicodelaenergia.com/el-uso-de-electrodomesticos-mas-eficientes-genera-hasta- 475-euros-de-ahorro-al-ano/) EMASA, Empresa Municipal de Aguas de Málaga (2019). Campañas de Concienciación [Awareness Campaigs]. (available at https://www.emasa.es) Flörke, M., Kynast, E., Bärlund, I., Eisner, S., Wimmer, F., & Alcamo, J. (2013). Domestic and industrial water uses of the past 60 years as a mirror of socio-economic development: A global simulation study. Global Environmental Change, 23, 144–156. doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.10.018 Gabarda-Mallorquí, A. & Ribas, A. (2016), Understanding Reductions in Water Consumption in Tourist Areas: A Case Study of the Costa Brava, Spain, International Journal of Water Resources Development, 32(6), 912-930. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2016.1142861 García-Valiñas, M. A. (2005). Efficiency and Equity in Natural Resources Pricing: A proposal for Urban Water Distribution Service. Environmental and Resource Economics, 32, 183-204. doi.org/10.1007/s10640-005-3363-0 21 Gil Olcina, A., Hernández, M., Morote, A., Rico, A., Saurí, D. & March, H. (2015). Tendencias del consumo de agua potable en la ciudad de Alicante y Área Metropolitana de Barcelona. 2007-2015. [Trends in water consumption in the city of Alicante and in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona 2007-2013]. Alicante, Universidad de Alicante, Instituto Interuniversitario de Geografía. Gössling, S., Hall, C.M., & Scott, D. (2015). Tourism and Water. Bristol UK: Channel View Publications. Hejazi, M., Edmonds, J., Chaturvedi, V., Davies, E., & Eom, J.Y. (2013). Scenarios of global municipal water use demand projections over the 21st century. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (3), 519– 538. doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2013.772301 Horne, J. (2018). Resilience in major Australian cities: assessing capacity and preparedness to respond to extreme weather events. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 34(4), 632-658. DOI: 10.1080/07900627.2016.1244049 Horne, J., Tortajada, C. & Harrington, L. (2018). Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: improving water services in cities affected by extreme weather events. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 34(4), 475-489. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2018.1464902 Hotlos, H., Glowacka, J.,& Kolodziej, A. (2012). Water Demand Variations in the Water Distribution System of Wroclaw. Ochrona Srodowiska , 34(4), 23-28. Howe, C.W. (1982). The impact of price on residential water demand: some insights. Water Resources Research 18, 713-716. doi: 10.1029/WR018i004p00713. Ibeconomía. 2016. El Govern amplía la campaña de ahorro de agua con folletos en inglés y alemán. [Water awareness leaflets published in English and Germnan by the Balearic Goivernment]. (available at https://ibeconomia.com/destacado/govern-amplia-la-campana- ahorro-agua-folletos-ingles-aleman/). INE, Instituto Nacional de Estadística. (2013). Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida (ECV) Año 2013. Datos provisionales.( available at www.ine.es). INE, Instituto Nacional de Estadística. (2016). Estadística sobre el suministro y saneamiento de agua en España [Statistics on Water Supply and Sanitation in Spain] ( available at www.ine.es). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2018). Global warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. Geneva, Switzerland: World Meteorological Organization. Lee.M., Tansel, B., & Balbin, M. (2013). Urban Sustainability Incentives for Residential Water Conservation: Adoption of Multiple High Efficiency Appliances. Water Resources Management, 27, 2531–2540. doi.org/10.1007/s11269-013-0301-8 Mack, E. &Wrase, S. (2017). A Burgeoning Crisis? A Nationwide Assessment of the Geography of Water Affordability in the United States. PLOS ONE, 12(4), e0176645. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169488 Makki, A. A., Stewart, R.A., Panuwatwanich, K, & Beal, C. (2012). Revealing the determinants of shower water end use consumption: Enabling better targeted urban water conservation strategies, Journal of Cleaner Production, 60, 129-146. doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.08.007 22 March,H. & Sauri, D. (2013). The unintended consequences of ecological modernization. Debt- induced reconfiguration of the water cycle in Barcelona. Environment and Planning A, 45(9), 2064-2083. doi.org/10.1068/a45380 March, H. & Sauri, D. (2016). When sustainable may not mean just: a critical interpretation of urban water consumption decline in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Local Environment 22(5), 523-535. doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2016.1233528 March, H., Perarnau, J., &Sauri, D. (2012). Exploring the Links between Immigration, Ageing and Domestic Water Consumption: The Case of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Regional Studies, 46(2), 229-244. doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2010.487859 March, H., Domènech, L., & Sauri, D. (2013). Water conservation campaigns and citizen perceptions: the drought of 2007-2008 in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Natural Hazards, 65(3), 1951-1966. doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0456-2 March, H., Hernández, M., & Saurí, D. (2015). Assessing domestic water use habits for more effective water awareness campaigns during drought periods: a case study in Alicante, eastern Spain, Natural Hazards Earth Systems Sciences, 15, 963-972. DOI: 10.5194/nhessd-2-6859-2014 Millock, K. & Nauges, C. (2010). Household Adoption of Water-Efficient Equipment: The Role of Socio-Economic Factors, Environmental Attitudes and Policy. Environmental and Resource Economics, 46, 539–565. doi.org/10.1007/s10640-010-9360-y Moreno-Rodríguez, J.M. (ed) (2005). A Preliminary Assessment of the Impacts in Spain due to the Effects of Climate Change. ECCE PROJECT - FINAL REPORT. Madrid: Spanish Ministry of the Environment Morote, A.F., Hernández, M. ,& Rico, A.M. (2016). Causes of Domestic Water Consumption Trends in the City of Alicante: Exploring the Links between the Housing Bubble, the Types of Housing and the Socio-Economic Factors, Water, 8, 374. doi:10.3390/w8090374 Nieswiadomy, M. L.,& Cobb, S.L. (1993). Impact of pricing structure selectivity on urban water demand. Contemporary Policy Issues 11:101-113. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1993.tb00395.x OECD (1999). The price of water: trends in OECD countries. Paris: OECD Olcina, J. (2001). Tipología de sequias en España. Ería , 56, 201-227. OCU, Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios de España (2016). Precio del agua: más cara en Barcelona y Murcia [Price of Water. More expensive in Barcelona and Murcia]. https://www.ocu.org/alimentacion/agua/informe/el-precio-del-agua (Last accessed 22 November 2018). Quesnel, K.J. & Ajami, N.K. (2017). Changes in water consumption linked to heavy news media coverage of extreme climatic events. Science Advancements, 3, e1700784. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1700784 Raynaud, A. (2016). Assessing the impact of full cost recovery of water services on European households. Water Resources and Economics, 14, 65-78 doi.org/10.1016/j.wre.2016.04.001 Renwick, M. E., &Archibald, S.O. (1998). Demand side management policies for residential water use: Who bears the conservation burden?. Land Economics, 74, 343-359. doi: 10.2307/3147117 Reynaud, A. & Romano, G. (2018). Advances in the Economic Analysis of Residential Water Use: An Introduction. Water, 10(9), 1162. doi.org/10.3390/w10091162 23 Rico, A.M., Olcina, J., Baños, C., Garcia, X. & Sauri, D. 2019 Declining water consumption in the hotel industry of mass tourism resorts: contrasting evidence for Benidorm, Spain. Current Issues in Tourism. DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2019.1589431. Richter, C. P., &Stamminger, R. (2012). Water consumption in the kitchen: A case study in four European countries, Water Resources Management 26, 1639–1649. doi.org/10.1007/s11269-012- 9976-5 Rockaway, T.D. (2011). Residential water use trends in North America. Journal of the American Water Works Association, 103(2), 76–89. Rogers, P., de Silva R., & Bhatia, R. (2002). Water is an economic good: How to use prices to promote equity, efficiency and sustainability. Water Policy, 4(1), 1-17. doi: 10.1016/S1366- 7017(02)00004-1 Rossi, G., & Cancelliere, A. (2013). Managing drought risk in water supply systems in Europe: A review. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 29, 272–289. Seelen, L.M.S., Flaim, G., Jennings, E. &Lisette N. 2019, Saving water for the future: Public awareness of water usage and water quality, Journal of Environmental Management, 242, 246- 257. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.04.047 Stavenhagen, M. , Buurman, J. , &Tortajada , C. (2018). Saving water in cities: Assessing policies for residential water demand management in four cities in Europe. Cities, 79, 187–195. doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.03.008 Swyngedouw, E. (2004). Social Power and the Urbanization of Water. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Tejedor, E., de Luis, M., Cuadrat, J. M., Esper, J., & Saz, M.A. (2016). Tree-ring-based drought reconstruction in the Iberian Range (east of Spain) since 1694. International Journal of Biometeorology, 60(3), 361-372. doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-1033-7 Tortajada, C. & Biswas, A.T. (2017). The rapidly changing global water management landscape. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 33 (6), 849-851. doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2017.1376834 Tortajada, C., González-Gómez, F.J., Biswas, A.K., & Buurman, J. (2019). Water Demand Management Strategies for Water-scarce Cities: The Case of Spain. Sustainable Cities and Society, 45, 649–656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.11.044 Villarreal, A., Hernandez, A., & Grasso, D. (2017). No es la "peor sequía en 20 años", será la peor de la historia de España: el desastre en datos [It is the “the worst drought in 20 years” it will be the worst in Spanish history. Disaster explained with data], El Confidencial https://www.elconfidencial.com/tecnologia/ciencia/2017-11-26/deje-decir-sequia-2017-peor-de- la-historia-espana_1482616/ ( last accessed 27 November 2018). Wada, Y., van Beek, L. P. H., Wanders, N., & Bierkens, M. F. P. (2013). Human water consumption intensifies hydrological drought worldwide. Environmental Research Letters, 8(3), 034036. doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034036 Weisz, H., & Steinberger, J.K. (2010). Reducing energy and material flows in cities. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2, 185–192. doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2010.05.010 24 United Nations (2018a). 68% of the world population projected to live in urban areas by 2050. https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world- urbanization-prospects.html ( last accessed 14 November 2018). United Nations (2018b). Sustainable Development Goal 6 Synthesis Report 2018 on Water and Sanitation. New York: United Nations Publications. Vallès-Casas, M., March, H. and Sauri, D. (2016). Decentralized and user-led approaches to rainwater harvesting and greywater recyclying in a Mediterranean Area: The case of Sant Cugat del Vallès ( Barcelona, Spain), Built Environment 42(2), 243-257. DOI: 10.2148/benv.42.2.243 Yoon H. 2018 Exploring the Water-Energy Nexus in Urban and Tourist Areas of the Western Mediterranean Empirical Findings from Benidorm and Barcelona. Unpublished PH.D. Dissertation. Belleterra, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Departament de Geografia. 25