Participatory water governance to protect drinking water resources in an agricultural peri-urban area

The European Horizon 2020 project WaterProtect aims at developing new solutions and tools to adopt the correct management practices and mitigation measures to protect drinking water resources from agriculture and other human activities (Belsman et al. 2018). Experiences from seven different areas of study (action labs) in Europe will be used to achieve this goal. One of these action labs is the lower basin of the Llobregat River (NE Spain). The Spanish action lab is located in the metropolitan area of the city of Barcelona. This is a densely populated area, and consequently with a high drinking water demand. Aquifers in the area and the Llobregat River are the water resources available to produce drinking water. Moreover, both groundwater and surface water are highly exploited to sustain other water demands in the area such as agriculture, and different industrial activities. The quality of these water resources is also threatened by urban and industrial activities (4 wastewater treatment plants) and to a less extent by agriculture (Marcé et al. 2012). Based on a multi-actor participatory approach, different actions have been conducted in the Spanish action lab to get the different water actors involved and evaluate the current water governance framework, with the aim of proposing and implementing a new model of water governance that contributes to a better water management in the area and protect drinking water resources.