The quarterly water delivery received in October set fire to part of the livestock and traders of Sant Hilary Saclem, with a population of about 6,000 inhabitants between the Montseny massif and the natural space of the Guilleri, one of the areas with the largest sources in all of Spain and for which water is the main economic driver. With the service municipality and the creation of the Aigües de Sacalm (a company with municipal and Agbar capital), the tariff that had been frozen for 12 years was updated and in some cases it was necessary to pay quarterly bills from 200 to 680 euros, or from 35 to 189 euros. Sometimes I go to demonstrations in protest and demand the mayor be demoted. From the Consistorio, the errors were recognized from the beginning at the root of the municipality and promised to review the tariffs and offer rewards to those affected. Old-timers, many of whom have returned receipts, are “as per expectations” with little “confidence.”
St. Hilary Sakalem is a water area. It contains 136 infinitives inventoried, although not all of them are manan. Furthermore, this is the home of the natural mineral waters of Font Vella, and is also the basin of the waters of Font d’Or, although bottled in the old town of Arbúcies, and of Font Subirà, which is located between the municipalities of Sant Hilari and Osor.
However, there is a problem with the water pipes that come from the banks. In 2009, Agbar purchased the water service from a private individual and assigned Ayuntamiento as the sole service provider. CiU denounced this in the courts and revoked the concession in 2015, forcing Consistorio to resolve the situation. For him, he was forced to provide the service until the franchise was dissolved and the network was expropriated. Between 2015 and 2024, lawsuits were ongoing and the Consistorio blocked the tariffs so that the provider could not file them. Since the company saw that it could not raise prices and at the risk of losing the franchise, it had only minimal investments in maintaining the network. This envy and damage is made increasingly worse by the sequel. “For resources, water, we do not have a problem, but it is urgent to solve the network situation, and we saw the solution of creating a mixed company for the integrated water cycle, in which the Consistorio participated 51% and 49% by Agbar,” explains the city’s mayor, Jordi Rotilán, from the Independent Party of the Guilleri (PIG).
On the first of July last, Aigües de Sacalm, the new company, came into operation and in October received the receipts that unleashed the discontent. Tariffs, which had been frozen for 12 years, rose. According to the mayor, “60% of the population spends about 20 cubic meters of water every quarter, or about 20 euros, and the problem lies in people who consume more than necessary – the reason for the system of setting prices based on the volume of consumption – or trade.” Moreover, he explains, “The problem is not the price of water, but rather the service bill, which in some cases has risen to 300%, in the fixed part of the bill, in consumption or payment.”
My water bill between July and September flipped the wick. In one of the town’s bars run by some Chinese citizens, they expressed their discomfort. They are “bored”, they know that Ayuntamiento has issued a statement explaining that some bugs have been resolved, but they “don’t trust”. One of her clients, Sofia, lives alone and says: “In my case it was a solid climb, 15 euros, but we brought back the receipts because there were muddy climbs and they were under expectations.” At another local restaurant, they doubled the bill, and they also hid their annoyance. They, like Claudia, at home are also dissatisfied with the new tariffs, they are “waiting to see what will happen in the next receipt.” Another case is that of a retired person who spends a few hours every day arranging things in the garage with the bathroom that was removed from his house. He has already paid the minimum, about 35 euros, which is 189. He is also waiting for the next receipt.
After the first demonstration and confirmation of the boredom of the past, the council issued a statement to the people of the water municipality with a “valuable and correct decision” to ensure the future of Pueblo’s service. He also admits that “the increases reported in the first bills are larger than those expected in the initial study and we understand the concern that has been caused.” Thus, the company was informed of “the decision to implement a new tariff that allows for the application of increases in a more progressive manner.” This will include “reviewing the planning of some planned investments to achieve a balance between the sustainability of services and the ability of families to meet spending.”
Consistorio hired an outside engineer to determine the new tariff. Initially, with Agbar, an investment of 5 million euros was calculated over 30 years, between the improvement of water networks and the cantarella and the expectation of being liquidated by water tariffs. Aside from correcting errors that deemed commercial and temporary building meters to be industrial, and supporting the following receipts, Rutlan also noted that the new tariff will be calculated based on service management costs in general and vice versa only for the year 2026.
On the last 18th day, under the slogan “Water is alive”, 400 years returned to the street on the platform of defending water and demanding that there is no fair and balanced tariff regulation applicable to frozen foods.