Veolia brings water to everyone thanks to innovation

On World Water Day, the United Nations explores the connection between water and gender in water resource management as a key element for ensuring equitable and sustainable access. Veolia's commitment to this goal is unwavering: to guarantee that everyone has access to water by investing in innovative solutions and fostering partnerships.

Ensuring inclusive access to water

The United Nations promotes World Water Day every March 22nd to raise awareness about the vital importance of this natural resource. This year's campaign, Water and GenderThis highlights that the lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation disproportionately affects women and girls, limiting their educational, economic, and development opportunities. Under the slogan "Where water flows, equality grows," the initiative emphasizes women's leadership in water resource management as a key element in ensuring a more equitable and sustainable model. Access to safe drinking water in Spanish homes was a process that began in the mid-19th century and was consolidated throughout the 20th century. This achievement completely transformed daily life, especially for women, who were able to dedicate their freed time to education, paid work, and caring for their families under better conditions. At the same time, the development of water infrastructure was essential for the country's progress. Although Spain now has high-quality water services, it is one of the European countries most affected by water stress. Climate change, with its prolonged droughts and torrential rains, particularly affects vulnerable populations. Therefore, in the face of this challenge, it is essential to advance the circular economy by regenerating water, valuing waste, and deploying renewable energies.

Veolia's commitment

Veolia, a global leader in water, energy, and waste services with a strong local presence in Spain, possesses the operational capacity, expert knowledge, and established technology for efficient resource management. Furthermore, it operates with a firm commitment: to ensure that everyone has inclusive and sustainable access to water through innovation, public-private partnerships, and dialogue across the country.

Equity and access to water services

Veolia promotes ecological security and sustainable development, guaranteeing universal access to water as a fundamental right in the territories where it operates. A pioneer in implementing social measures since 2012, the company established social funds and tariffs for vulnerable groups before legislation required it. The company's social action plan is based on three pillars: generating educational opportunities, improving employability, and creating sustainable communities. Among other initiatives, the Veolia Social Pact stands out, an open and participatory governance model with social and economic stakeholders and local institutions, which annually renews its objectives to multiply its positive social impact, as it has already done in municipalities such as Huelva, Palencia, and Murcia. Another key project is the OLA Program, launched in 2020 with the Red Cross, which offers personalized empowerment and job placement pathways to people in vulnerable situations, focusing on beneficiaries of the water social fund. This program implements a reproducible methodology based on five pillars: coverage of basic needs, psychosocial support, employability services, municipal coordination, and impact evaluation, and by 2025 it has achieved 82% female participation.

Innovation for resilience

Veolia is leading the transformation of the water sector in Spain by integrating advanced technologies and innovative solutions that address current challenges such as water scarcity, climate change, and public health. Through digitalization, the circular economy, and collaboration with institutions, technology centers, universities, and startups, the company is driving strategic projects that optimize the management of the entire water cycle and ensure the resilience of infrastructure and territories.

Hubgrade is Veolia's technology ecosystem that is leading the digital transformation through digital twins, generative AI, predictive maintenance, and advanced analytics that processes more than 60 million data points daily from remote meter readings to optimize real-time decision-making.

To the LOSE In the area of ​​water digitalization, Veolia has achieved the best results in the private sector, with 17 projects co-financed by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge and NextGenerationEU funds. These projects will benefit more than 6.2 million inhabitants in 209 municipalities, from large cities to the entire national territory. Water regeneration and reuse, along with waste valorization, energy efficiency, and biodiversity preservation, are the cornerstones that have transformed old wastewater treatment plants into ecofactories—green infrastructures that address resource scarcity and add value to them, as exemplified by the BioSur Ecofactory (Granada). In the field of health risk prevention, Veolia was selected by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) to oversee the monitoring of pathogens in wastewater in a major epidemiological surveillance project. For three years, their laboratories will analyze up to 500 European samples, performing more than 500 analyses per sample to detect viruses, bacteria, and contaminants, and creating an early warning system. These initiatives contribute to a healthier, more prosperous, and inclusive future, with effective, sustainable services tailored to the real needs of communities.