Water Exchange and Wastewater Reuse to Achieve SDG 6: Learning from Agriculture and Urban-Tourism Coexistence in Benidorm (Spain)

Sustainable Development Goal 6 seeks to address the increasing demand for water resources in urban areas struggling with inadequate water quality and supply. This chapter go deeper into how targets 6.3 (Improve water quality, wastewater and safe reuse), 6.4 (Increase water-use efficiency and ensure freshwater supplies), 6.5 (Integrated Water Resources Management), and 6.b (Participation in water and sanitation management) could be combined and duly addressed by promoting water exchange and wastewater reuse among agricultural and urban-tourism water uses. Key driving factors and social learnings from Benidorm (South-Eastern Spain) are presented in order to highlight expected benefits and limited barriers when addressing water scarcity risk in water stressed regions. Taking into account that stakeholders’ involvement and good water governance are essential for implementing SDG 6, focus has been on two key stakeholders: the Marina Baja Water Consortium (assuming urban and tourism water demand) and the Canal Bajo del Algar irrigators’ community (assuming agricultural water demand). Discursive analysis has been conducted through semi-structured interviews to both key stakeholders. Results highlighted how water management, water quality, and water charging are the three main issues to be addressed when promoting water exchange and non-conventional water resources between agricultural and urban-tourist activities. Learnings could be used to customize interventions at regional scale when promoting water exchange between confronted water uses in water scarcity regions.