The importance of long-term planning
If there was one thing I learned in my years in Switzerland, it was to plan for the short, medium and long term. This is one of the virtues of the Swiss that they apply in almost all areas of life, both personally and publicly. This is how they established the years of useful life that each infrastructure, equipment or service has, and based on this life, they program future actions, whether renovation, expansion or modification.
The pending duties in the matter of water supply
We are in the midst of a drought crisis, with information that reveals outstanding commitments by almost all public institutions and many private ones. It is clear that there has been a lack of adequate planning in terms of water supply, both for human consumption and for other uses in industry, livestock and agriculture. Losses due to old or poorly planned networks are excessively high, especially at a time when there is a need to reduce usage in all areas and sectors.
The need for cooperation and planning at local and county level
Many years ago someone should have raised the need to create water communities to group several municipalities and deal with adequate investments and maintenance. The lack of coordination and cooperation between municipalities and at county level has led to inefficient management of the water resource. It is essential to group together to have enough joint strength to have the necessary resources and exchange water between municipalities with different levels of abundance.
The importance of learning from past mistakes
In times of crisis, needs and pending commitments appear. It is urgent to plan new infrastructures such as desalination plants, interconnect basins and group water supply services to be better prepared to deal with all eventualities. If we learn from the mistakes of the past, we can avoid them in the future.