Enrique Cabrera Rochera has more than 25 years of experience in the field of urban water services management. His doctoral thesis was developed on the topics of Performance Indicators and Benchmarking. He is co-author of the Performance Indicators and Benchmarking manuals published by the International Water Association. He has been Vice President of the International Water Association (2018-2022), serving on its board and also chairing IWA Publishing and the Benchmarking and Performance Evaluation specialist group of the same association to date. Enrique is a university professor at the Universitat Politècnica de València, where he teaches Fluid Mechanics. He currently holds the position of Deputy Director of Innovation and Communication at the ETS of Industrial Engineers of Valencia.
What challenges do you think the swimming pool industry faces?
In the current situation of increasing water scarcity (which may worsen significantly due to climate change) the pool industry may face increasing social pressure for recreational water use (as opposed to other uses that may be more of a priority).In this regard, I believe that more and more water efficiency requirements may be legally or morally enforceable on pool owners, and we may see changes at the tariff level.
How do you think engineering can help us to optimize its use in a more sustainable way?
I am convinced that there are technical solutions possible to ensure that, once filled, it requires virtually no additional water.Unfortunately this is often not the case in many of today’s pools that require occasional or even constant water consumption.
In addition, I think it is necessary in this regard, that users have more information about the use of water in their pools and the efficiency of the same. Finally, I believe that in a more distant future, it could be considered that the water in the swimming pools should not be drinking water from the network, but that water (rainwater, etc.), duly treated and with all the sanitary guarantees, could be reused.
What do you think should be the priority actions for a better optimization of freshwater in deficit geographic areas?
I believe that progress can continue to be made in achieving greater efficiency in each of the stages of water catchment, production and distribution.
And, of course, we can also greatly improve efficiency in water use. Agriculture as a major user has seen its efficiency increase significantly in recent decades, but it can continue to offer great savings, since a generalized efficiency improvement in irrigation water accounts for a very significant percentage of the total.
However, I believe it is also important to start prioritizing uses.Understand that the water we have is limited and that we need to establish priorities in its use, and also demand guarantees of efficiency in its use.
“Water is a common good, it is scarce, access to water and sanitation are human rights, and we have to start being much more demanding with each and every use of it.”
Do you think the sensible use of swimming pools in areas of water restrictions is a problem or can it be a solution to our health in the face of rising temperatures?
Any use of water in water-scarce areas should be reviewed with clear and rational criteria. There is no doubt that, in a scenario of very high temperatures, bathing in the sea or in a swimming pool can provide us with a much better quality of life than the use of air conditioning (despite the impact of its carbon footprint). It is important to carry out education and awareness campaigns to avoid oversimplifying the issues. We need to know more about the uses of water and understand the efficiency of each use.
Swimming pools cannot be an exception. But I believe that, as in all uses, we have enough room for improvement to be able to continue enjoying recreational uses of water while greatly limiting its impact on the availability of the resource. That will surely imply a paradigm shift in our use of water in swimming pools, with a much more conscious and responsible approach. But if we succeed, I believe that the use of swimming pools can make us in the future much more bearable in a climate that is becoming increasingly severe.
