Services
ICRA-CERCA is the first research center to join the Association of Municipalities and Entities for Public Water (AMAP), and its membership represents a support for the public water management sector in the country. In this way, lines of research can be opened and consolidated with public water companies and city councils, specifically linking it to social and management aspects, in addition to technical ones.
ICRA-CERCA, attached to the University of Girona, was created in 2006 by the Generalitat de Catalunya, and has become the multidisciplinary center of reference in Catalonia for research on the integral water cycle. This research carried out at ICRA-CERCA is related to all aspects related to water, especially those that have to do with its rational use and the effects of human activity and drought on water resources.
The institute generates essential knowledge on hydrological processes, aquatic ecosystems and chemical and microbial pollutants, particularly in conditions of water scarcity and extreme environmental conditions. It also focuses on the development of appropriate technologies for the treatment, improvement and reuse of water, transferring this knowledge to administration, industry, scientists, decision-makers and society in general.
AMAP was created in 2018, but today it already has 80 members, including municipalities, public water companies and municipal and environmental organizations. Its objective is to support and promote public water management in Catalonia, offering support to its members and promoting collaboration between local entities.
In Catalonia, although most of the population, 78%, still receives water from private operators, public water management is gradually expanding, and since 2010, 40 municipalities have already switched to direct management of the supply service, so that it is now the form of management of the majority of Catalan municipalities, 55%.
