Joaquín Melgarejo

• Phd
• Managing Director at University of Alicante

Energy consumption is one of the principal components of the operative costs incurred by providers of water services, both financial and environmental. Fortunately, in recent years solar panel technology has improved substantially, and photovoltaic self-consumption has become a tool that can reduce the costs of water reuse and other water services....

Energy consumption is one of the main costs faced by households, both financially and environmentally. This article analyses the energy consumption of Spanish households and the cost of installing solar panels in order to determine the potential of this form of energy production on a household level. The results show that households with a larger n...

The disposal of desalination brine, which contains a higher concentration of salts, is treated as waste and discharged into the environment. In this brine, several elements, when processing and extraction were possible, could be susceptible to exploitation and valorisation. Among all the ions existing in desalination brine, and whose industrial use...

En el sureste de España se sitúa la Demarcación Hidrográfica del Segura, afectada por un escenario de déficit estructural, como consecuencia de contar con una precipitación muy baja —la menor del continente— y que, ante los escenarios de cambio climático, puede agravarse durante los próximos años. Esta situación de escasez ha requerido la combinaci...

The Tagus-Segura water transfer is a large infrastructure that allows the distribution of a large amount of water resources, which is associated with a significant energy cost. Therefore, energy improvements are a fundamental tool to reduce one of the main financial costs of the infrastructure, as well as the emission of greenhouse gases. For this...

Water pricing is one of the fundamental tools for water resources management. However, the current tariff structure in Spain has associated problems in relation to the composition of households. This paper analyses the current tariffs of Spain's Valencia region and studies the effect of alternative tariff structures. The results show an imbalance i...

La estrategia mundial para garantizar el abastecimiento de alimentos a la actual población de más de seis mil quinientos millones de personas, y que podría alcanzar los ocho mil quinientos millones en el año 2030, contempla inevitablemente un aumento paralelo de la producción agraria, confiándose en gran parte este esfuerzo al regadío. Teniendo en...

La Demarcación Hidrográfica del Segura (DHS), situada en el sureste de España, cuenta con una de las pluviometrías más bajas de Europa, lo que la sitúa en una situación deficitaria estructural que requiere una optimización en el uso de los recursos naturales y una movilización de recursos no convencionales que permitan cumplir la atención de las de...

El consumo energético es uno de los principales componentes del gasto financiero en la provisión de los servicios del agua. Este deriva, en gran medida, del suministro tradicional a través de la compra de energía a las empresas suministradoras, lo que lleva asociada una determinada contaminación. Esto justifica una persecución constante del desarro...

The Tagus-Segura water transfer has generated significant value in the region that receives its water resources. Despite this value, some agents seek the cancellation of this important infrastructure, arguing economic, environmental, social, and political problems. With the aim of providing information on the efficiency of the Tagus-Segura aqueduct...

Critical infrastructures are those that are essential. For this type of infrastructure, it is necessary to implement analytical methodologies that will allow us to quickly obtain the susceptibility or resilience and possible damage generated in extreme precipitation episodes, through a holistic perspective in which the factors linked to hydrologica...

This research examines the differences in the price for water supply for the Spanish households according to the type of household and the region of residence, which is of great relevance in terms of equity. The analysis covers the entire Spanish territory with the aim of establishing comparisons between regions, determining the current situation o...

There is an extensive bibliography that analyses the structure of a desalination project from the perspective of chemical engineering, but there is another "engineering" that has been much less studied, which is just as decisive for the plant to be able to operate. The aim of this work is to analyse the economic and legal factors that condition the...

Pollution from wastewater discharges requires the treatment of all wastewater to maintain water bodies in good condition, as well as the possibility of reusing this water. Thus, wastewater treatment is an activity that has developed significantly in the Region of Valencia and has significant costs, including energy, which represents the main econom...

In the context of climate change, a significant increase in the flood risk is expected, which may lead to an intensification of the social impacts of disasters. Social impacts significantly affect the recovery processes of individuals, social groups, and institutions in the medium and long term. Hence, the management of such impacts throughout the...

This work examines the transformations occurred with the shift from private company to water user association and natural park, looking at one collective irrigation system located in Alicante province (Spain): Riegos de Levante, Izquierda del Segura, one of the most extensive irrigation areas in Europe. Between 1918 and 2018, a process of change an...

Considering water as an essential good for life on earth, reflecting on management and governance will be timely relevant. Governance for equitable water allocation is closely linked to a decentralized regime without strengthening competence at the subnational level. Having made such observations, the present study through the inductive method and...

La construción de un modelo sustenible de trasvase en Brasil: un análisis desde modelo de Tajo-Segura en España A construção de um modelo de transferência sustentável no Brasil: uma análise a partir do modelo Tajo-Segura na Espanha RESUMEN: La crisis del agua es un proceso planetario que muchas localidades ya enfrentan y otras enfrentarán algún día...

Citation: Molina-Giménez, A., Jodar-Abellan, A., y Melgarejo-Moreno, J. 2020. Informe técnico sobre la viabilidad de concesión de aguas regeneradas de determinadas Depuradoras, en relación con el mantenimiento de caudales ecológicos en la provincia de Alicante, a tenor de lo dispuesto en el Esquema provisional de Temas Importantes de la Demarcación...

During a certain period in the history of Spain, in the years of the Second Industrial Revolution, water companies played a very important role in managing a public service as necessary and complex as the supply of drinking water to the population. This article describes the emergence of these companies in the economic framework of the second half...

El agua es imprescindible para la vida pero, además, es un recurso necesario en cantidad y calidad apropiadas para permitir el desarrollo de una sociedad moderna y productiva. Los recursos hídricos son el soporte de la agricultura y de la industria, así como del sector terciario, en particular en lo que corresponde al turismo y al ocio. La provinc...

Minimizing energy expenditure is one of the main purposes of the managers of pressurized irrigation systems. From the energy consumption standpoint, they can reduce energy consumption by supplying a constant flow into the system (a scheme different from urban water pressurized networks in which water demands depend on users). Managers can keep ener...

One way to address the practical challenges of the current problems of water services is through demand-side measures. These types of measures impact on demand through price changes or on water use control, considering that the impacts of these measures would be extremely useful in order to implement an adequate policy mix. One of the objectives of...

This research seeks to determine and analyze the reaction to an increase in the water invoice with the aim of introducing improvements in wastewater treatments. To this end, the purification situation is analyzed and the price elasticities of demand are obtained through Ordinary Minimum Squares. The results show that there are several small noncomp...

Tourist destinations in developed regions constitute a complex production model of social vulnerability to natural hazards. On the one hand, the high geographical exposure of tourist areas, the volatility of demand or the tourists' lack of knowledge of the local culture of risk/disaster generate sensitivity. On the other hand, the socio-economic dy...

Reference: Molina-Gimenez, A., Melgarejo-Moreno, J., and Jodar-Abellan, A. 2020. Informe técnico-jurídico sobre la viabilidad de concesión de aguas regeneradas de determinadas Depuradoras (EDAR), en relación con el mantenimiento de caudales ecológicos en el río Vinalopó (Alicante, España). Instituto Universitario del Agua y las Ciencias Ambientale...

Tourist destinations in developed regions constitute a complex production model of social vulnerability to natural hazards. On the one hand, the high geographical exposure of tourist areas, the volatility of demand or the tourists' lack of knowledge of the local culture of risk/disaster generate sensitivity. On the other hand, the socio-economic dy...

The issues of wastewater treatment and the reuse of water are of great importance, especially in areas where the shortage of conventional resources is a structural problem, as it is in the case of Spain. Wastewater reuse is a valid mechanism to avoid problems derived from droughts and water scarcity. It allows access to water resources in areas wit...

EMPORE project, co-funded by LIFE Programme (LIFE15 ENV/ES/000598), aims to demonstrate an innovative, cost-efficient and highly replicable technology for the removal of Emerging Pollutants (EPs) from European Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs). In action C2 a set of indicators to monitor the socio-economic impact of EPs removal were developed. F...

Nowadays, water demand is increasing continuously, which raises the pressure on available water resources over the world, in both quantity and quality. Moreover, the projected decrease of natural water inputs, due to climate change, denotes a new level of uncertainty. In particular, the South-East of Spain suffers from water deficit due to its arid...

The non-conventional water resources (water reuse (WR) and desalination) are a strategic option to compensate the structural water deficit of the southeast of Spain. In addition to increasing water availability and reducing the pressure on conventional resources, these resources show strategic functions at environmental, social and economic level....

Currently, water demands are increasing notoriously, spreading the pressure on available water resources around the world in both quantity and quality. Similarly, the expected reduction of natural water inputs, due to climate change, depicts a new level of uncertainty. Specifically, Southeast Spain presents water scarcity due to its aridity—irregul...

This paper presents a matlab-based educational software (UAenergy) developed to compute the energy audit of a water pressurized network. This analysis allows accounting for all the energy involved in the water distribution stage in the urban water cycle, showing that the energy balance is maintained —the energy input to the pressurized network is e...

El proyecto LIFE EMPORE ENV/ES/000598 “Desarrollo de una metodología eficiente y sostenible para la eliminación de contaminantes emergentes de EDAR’s (EMPORE)” fue presentado por María de los Ángeles Bernal, miembro del IUACA, en el Congreso Nacional del Agua celebrado los días 21-22 de febrero de 2019 en Orihuela (Alicante). En la presentación, se...

El objeto del presente trabajo es el de analizar la relación existente, en algunos casos, entre la creación y desarrollo de una zona franca y la industria del automóvil. Se ha observado que esta industria se ha amparado para su desarrollo en la existencia de ciertas ventajas de índole fiscal y de radicación, y ha buscado establecerse en espacios do...

El último tercio del siglo XIX es de una extraordinaria diversificación agraria y aparición de diversas vías de especialización. La expansión agraría requería más recursos hídricos y mayor regularidad en su aprovisionamiento. En este contexto nace la Compañía de Riegos de Levante S.A. (1918) y la Comunidad de Riegos de Levante Margen Izquierda del...

Nowadays, the south-east of Spain has several problems of water supply due to high agricultural, urban, industries, and so one water demands. In addition, this sensible area has limited precipitations, high temperatures and evapotranspiration rates. At the same time, in many places, the urban growth has been poorly organized. Usually, some areas ar...

Growing global scarcity of water is forcing a change in their management models and the need to implement good governance schemes, understood as the implementation of legal, institutional and economic mechanisms that enable the efficient organisation of the activity developed by all of the agents involved in water management. In this sense, one of...

Actualmente, las demandas hídricas se encuentran en continuo crecimiento lo que aumenta la presión, en cantidad y calidad, sobre los recursos hídricos disponibles a nivel global. Asimismo, la reducción proyectada de las aportaciones en régimen natural, consecuencia del cambio climático, supone un nuevo nivel de incertidumbre. Pese a errores todavía...

Las páginas que aquí se presentan recogen los textos referidos a las ponencias de la segunda edición del Simposyum Agroalimentario de la Vega Baja del Segura (SYA), que tuvo lugar los días 23 y 24 de noviembre de 2017, bajo el lema: agroalimentación, agua y sostenibilidad. En dicho encuentro se reunieron en el Auditorio de la Lonja de Orihuela los...

El presente libro se estructura en tres partes. En la primera de ellas se aborda, desde una perspectiva exclusivamente jurídica, la funcionalidad de los mercados de derechos del agua como un instrumento de reasignación de recursos escasos. En esta primera parte se presta especial atención al contrato de cesión de derechos al uso privativo de las ag...

El objetivo del presente informe es analizar los recursos hídricos en el área de estudio, considerando su oferta, demanda y reutilización con respecto a las necesidades urbanas, agrícolas, industriales y terciario-turísticas, diferenciando a su vez entre el carácter endógeno o exógeno de los mismos. Mediante dicho análisis se pretende esclarecer la...

Actual cost of services of local entities (CESEL, in Spanish) is the name of a new official source of statistics in Spain, provided by Ministry of Finance and Civil Service, which intends to bring some transparency to a very obscure question: the real costs of local public services, in this case, the collection costs of municipal solid waste (MSW)....

Las páginas que aquí se presentan recogen los textos referidos a las ponencias de la primera edición del Simposyum Agroalimentario de la Vega Baja del Segura (SYA), que tuvo lugar los días 18 y 19 de noviembre de 2016, bajo el lema: sostenibilidad, cooperación y expansión. En dicho foro se reunieron en el Auditorio de la Lonja de Orihuela los grand...

Urban areas are currently experiencing rapid growth, which brings with it increases in the population, the expansion of impervious surfaces, and an overall jump in the environmental and hydrological impact. To mitigate such an impact, different strategies proposed to tackle this problem often vary; for example, stormwater tanks, the reuse of wastew...

Globally, urban growth continues each day, adding urgency to the management of urban hydric issues. Related issues include: increased drinking-water consumption, wastewater production, and construction of impervious areas (which increase surface runoff). This article presents a simulation of 3 possible scenarios (current, 10-year population growth,...

Connections among the different components of a territory become more complex as long as limits to development are found and, even more, if the key objectives of various stakeholders diverge in their definition. In this sense, there has been an ongoing discussion between Alicante and its Port as to whether or not certain guidelines are suitable to...

Free zones have a long tradition in Spain, dating from the beginning of last century, as they are currently conceived. Accordingly, different cases are described in this study, both nationally and internationally, allowing for comparisons between other free zones and the case of Alicante. The purpose of the study is to provide guidelines for the ch...

En el presente trabajo se expone parte del resultado obtenido a raíz del encargo que la Excelentísima Diputación de Alicante realizó a INECA (Instituto Estudios Económicos Provincia de Alicante), por medio del cual se analiza de forma integral la implantación de una zona franca en la provincia de Alicante. Este elemento, tomando a la Autoridad Port...

Urban water management is increasingly important given the need to maintain water resources that comply with global and local standards of quantity and quality. The effective management of water resources requires the optimization of financial resources without forsaking social requirements. A number of mathematical models have been developed for t...

p>El tema de la depuración y la reutilización de las aguas es de gran trascendencia, sobre todo en los espacios donde la escasez de recursos convencionales es un problema estructural, como es el caso de España. El potencial que presenta este recurso no convencional, estratégico en las situaciones de déficit, es incuestionable; máxime si se tiene en...

Este libro es el compendio de los temas impartidos en el MOOC con el mismo título.

The Colombian capital, Bogotá, has undergone massive growth in a short period of time. Naturally, this growth has increased the city’s water demand. The prediction of this demand will help understand and analyze consumption behavior, thereby allowing for effective management of the urban water cycle. This paper uses the Least-Squares Support Vector...

Conocer los componentes y el comportamiento del ciclo urbano del agua permite gestionar de manera adecuada los recursos ambientales y económicos de una ciudad, pues este concepto integra elementos hidrológicos, hídricos, de abastecimiento, de distribución, uso del agua, de recolección, tratamiento y reutilización. En Bogotá, las tasas de crecimient...

Understand the components and the behavior of the Urban Water Cycle is useful to management the environmental and economic resources of a city. This concept integrates hydrological, water supply, distribution, water use, water pollution, harvesting, treatment and reuse. In Bogotá the rates of population and geographic growth are going to accelerate...

There was a first phase of road-building efforts during the first third of the century which constituted the contemporary stage of road transport in Spain. This was followed by an extended hiatus until the end of the post civil war period, after which a new boost in road building took place from 1960 until the crisis of the mid-1970s with a signifi...

In Spain, and particularly in the Valencia Region, the scarcity of water resources means that water resource exploitation must be optimized. In this light, reusing the large amounts of treated wastewater is a top priority, especially in agriculture, urban use and the irrigation of golf courses. Rincón de León wastewater treatment plant–water reclam...

La necesidad de dar respuesta al freno que suponía la deficitaria red de transporte terrestre para el crecimiento de la economía se convirtió en un objetivo básico de la política inversora del Estado durante el siglo xx. Un primer esfuerzo constructor se produjo en el primer tercio del siglo, dando inicio a la etapa contemporánea del transporte por...

La escasez de recursos hídricos y la búsqueda de soluciones para intentar paliarla es una de las señas de identidad de la provincia de Alicante, en este contexto cobra especial relevancia el conocimiento acumulado que se hace presente en los embalses de Tibi, Elche y Relleu. Todos se construyeron con la idea de optimizar el agua, ya que de esta dep...

This study has two parts. The first part analyzes the heritage value of the immovable and intangible cultural assets typical of the area under study. Secondly, a legal analysis is made of the concept of the “cultural park” and whether it may apply to this area.

Decision-making in water resources management is a perennial source of political debate. When a basin suffers from a structural water shortage the possible solutions are either a transfer from another basin or the use of other unconventional resources such as those obtained through desalination or water reuse. Politics and territorial interests hav...

This paper describes and discusses the main hydraulic works of traditional irrigation system in the Vega Baja del Segura area, particularly the diversion dams and the aqueducts. The diversion dams, built on the bed of the Segura River, represent the beginning of the system from where part a vast and complex network of aqueducts, constituted by ditc...

Este trabajo comenta y analiza el Memorándum de entendimiento firmado entre el Estado y las Comunidades Autónomas implicadas en el trasvase Tajo-Segura, como modelo de buena gobernanza del agua en la resolución de conflictos hídricos. La reforma de numerosos preceptos que afectan al Trasvase a través de la Ley de Evaluación Ambiental de 2013, ha pe...

In April 2012 Argentinean Government nationalized 51% of Repsol shares in YPF. Expropiation of YPF is a new step in a broad list of protectionist and interventionist decisions, such as the nationalization of Aerolíneas Argentinas, nationalization of private pension plans, or the amendments of the Central Bank regulations to make the use of reserves...

Traditional agriculture in the area of Vega Baja del Segura is located on the alluvial plain created by the river throughout history. It has an irrigable area of about 190 km 2 which thrives with own resources of the basin of the Segura river. Waters are diverted from the river with weirs and distributed, by simple gravity, through a complex syst...

A pesar de que la mayoría de las titulaciones universitarias aspiran a desarrollar en los alumnos la capacidad de trabajar en equipo y el aprendizaje autónomo, lo cierto es que, en la práctica, los estudiantes tienen un papel muy pasivo en el proceso de enseñanza/aprendizaje. Nuestro proyecto intenta fomentar la participación activa del alumno en l...

The global strategy to ensure food supply to the current population of over 6.500 million people -that could reach 8.500 million in 2030- inevitably includes a parallel increase in agricultural production. A large part of this effort is relayed on irrigation. Beyond exceptions, the new transformations are increasingly difficult and expensive, ther...

The origin of the water supply system of Tajo-Segura, in 1932, goes back to when it was the unique possible solution to the shortage of hydric resources in the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura (CHS). Its energy consumption is not homogeneous; it could be bigger or smaller, depending on the different water destination. The energy cost average o...

The Vinalopo-Alicante System in the province of Alicante, Spain, is a space characterized for the shortage of hydric resources but a great development of underground waters. These underground waters have allowed the water supply in most of the municipalities of the province and, at the same time, the development of a very advanced agriculture, well...

Los trasvases son la manifestación por excelencia de la planificación hidrológica nacional. Con ellos el Estado ordena y fija los destinos de los caudales, sin que se tenga que circunscribir al marco físico de las cuencas hidrográficas. Se parte de la consideración de que el agua es un recurso natural escaso que pertenece al conjunto de la sociedad...

The energy consumption of the Tajo-Segura water diversion is not uniform in all the different destinations of the water since, depending on the point to which the water must be diverted, more or less energy is required. The average energy expenditure of the Tajo-Segura water diversion is 1.21 kWh/m3. The energy costs of desalination depend on the t...

Clm economía, Num 15. Las actuaciones de reutilización de aguas depuradas no deben contemplarse aisladamente y en función exclusiva del beneficio que pueda producir en el usuario. Las aguas regeneradas han de considerarse como un recurso no convencional, cuya gestión debe incluirse en una planificación integral de los recursos hídricos, que tenga...

The remarkable development of reuse of water in Spain has taken place not only because of the necessity to extend water supplies, but also due to the requirements to improve the management in water treatment. Water supply consumption has increased, along with the increase of population that has taken place in numerous urban zones. As a result, trad...

The remarkable development of reuse of water in Spain has taken place not only because of the necessity to extend water supplies, but also due to the requirements to improve the management in water treatment. Water supply consumption has increased, along with the increase of population that has taken place in numerous urban zones. As a result, trad...

Disponible en Tractat de l'aigua (pp.54 - 62. ISSN 1989-3280): https://es.scribd.com/document/98369033/Tratat-de-l-Aigua-Valencia

Las lagunas de Torrevieja y La Mata, de 1.400 y 700 hectáreas de superficie respectivamente y que en su conjunto tienen un perímetro de más de 25 kilómetros, se encuentran localizadas en el municipio de Torrevieja (Alicante), en el sureste de la península Ibérica, zona en la que resultan abundantes las formaciones albufereñas. La evolución geomorfo...

The purpose of this paper is to establish certain keys in order to gain a better understanding of what has been called the "water war". A review of recent Spanish history is provided in order to ascertain how discrepancies have emerged, in relation to which issues, which solutions have been offered and which interests they conceal. In the design of...

The town of Torrevieja owes its existence to the sea, to its climate, to the two saltwater lagoons that it sits between, and to the watchtower from which it took its name. The town's motto, "Blanca de sales, morena de soles" ("Salt-white, sun-tanned"), neatly sums up the essence of this part of the Mediterranean, where singular environmental featur...

Disponible en La Aventura de la historia (ISSN 1579-427X, Nº. 105, págs. 89-93): https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2319838

Disponible en La Aventura de la historia (ISSN 1579-427X, Nº. 105, págs. 84-88): https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2319834

Se analiza la actuación de Riegos de Levante en la margen derecha del río Segura, una empresa de venta de agua creada al calor de la política de la Restauración que generó unas desaforadas expectativas de riego en uno de los espacios de la península Ibérica con mayor déficit hidráulico. El espejismo se produjo con las obras de regulación realizadas...

Mediante el PH de la cuenca del Júcar se aprobó en 1998 el trasvase de 80 hm3/año desde el Júcar al Vinalopó con el acuerdo de todos los afectados. Este trasvase cuenta con Proyecto, Informe ambiental favorable e informe favorable del BEI. Asimismo cuenta con subvención de fondos FEDER que aporta 80,121 MM de € (34,70%), siendo financiada la obra m...