Domingo Zarzo has been president of the Spanish Association of Desalination and Reuse (AEDyR) for almost ten years, and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA) since 2017, but his experience in the water treatment sector spans more than three decades. During this time, he has been involved in the design and construction of desalination plants in several countries around the world. Convinced of the fundamental role of business associations in making companies stronger and providing their technical knowledge to administrations, he defends that among the main functions of AEDyR at this time are dissemination, training and education, to address the inaccurate or false information that circulates about reuse and, especially, desalination.
- What is AEDyR?
Aedyr is the Spanish Association of Desalination and Reuse, whose aims are to promote the use of non-conventional resources (desalination and reuse) in a sustainable way. It is a non-profit association that brings together companies and organisations from the entire water treatment value chain (operators, designers, constructors, consultants, suppliers, public and private companies, research centres and universities).
- What is your main role as president of AEDyR?
The president of the Association is just one of the councillors elected by the members, but with greater power of representation. He is the most visible face of the association. He also heads the Steering Committee, which deals with day-to-day issues.
- The association you preside over is made up of more than 300 companies of different sizes, and many of them are competitors. How do you manage to bring them all together, unify their criteria and have a common voice?
It is true that in our association we have companies that are major competitors, and even among the representatives of the association's Board of Directors. But in this case, when we work for AEDyR, we forget where we come from and we work together for what is good for the sector, for the companies, for society and for the environment. Furthermore, I would say that in the case of Spanish companies, the relationship between professionals is unique, as we have been told in different forums from other countries. There is an exemplary camaraderie between us, and companies may be competitors in some projects, but we are also collaborators in others, maintaining an excellent relationship between professionals.
- What are the main services offered by AEDyR to its members?
The most important thing is to be a meeting point for all professionals and companies, where the main innovations and trends in the sector are disseminated, and we promote this through the organisation of our biennial international congress (we have just announced that the next one will be held in June 2025 in Tenerife) and various conferences.
We also participate in the training of technicians and professionals, for example, by collaborating with the University Specialist Course on Desalination and Reuse of the University of Alicante or the training courses organised by the Aladyr Association (Latin American Association of Desalination and Reuse). We also have numerous materials on our website, such as conference documentation, videos (on Youtube), technical documents, databases, etc., available to members.
Our work as representatives of the sector before the Administration in the development of new regulations and legislation is also important, defending the interests of the sector and also contributing our technical criteria for the improvement of these regulations that affect us and contributing our experience and knowledge. One example is the recent incorporation of AEDyR's proposals for including concession models in the draft of the new Royal Decree on reuse in the development of reuse projects and water footprint compensation models.
- How is it financed?
AEDyR's funding comes from two sources: membership fees and sponsorship from congresses and conferences. With these sources of funding we achieve a two-year financial balance, since in the year of the biennial congress we recover the lower profit from the year in which there is no congress.
- What are companies looking for from industry associations and how can industry associations help them?
In our opinion, as I was saying, to have a meeting point to be able to reach all the agents in the value chain and also to make their voice heard in the Administrations for the development of new regulations. Obviously, together we are stronger.
- In recent months, due to the intensification of the drought in some areas of the country, desalination and water reuse have come to the forefront of the news and your association has become a reference point. Are citizens sufficiently aware of the role played by companies such as the ones you represent in the use of water resources?
In our opinion, no. And not only in our role as associations or companies, but also in the serious situation we have with water in Spain and worldwide, which should make us aware that water is a very valuable and scarce commodity.
In the case of desalination, I believe that one of the biggest challenges today is communication, even more than potential technical challenges. There is a lot of misinformation, information that is not based on science and technology or is politicised, attacking desalination without any real basis. Making people see that desalination is necessary and that it is a totally sustainable activity that does not consume a lot of energy and does not have a high cost (as is commonly thought) is a time-consuming activity, although we hope that it is bearing fruit thanks to our communication campaigns and the support of companies that help us in this task, such as PROA.
- What do you see as the role of the association you preside over in view of the general lack of knowledge on these issues?
Dissemination, training and education. We need to be efficient in the way our messages reach the population and reach as many people as possible.
- What are the main challenges facing AEDyR?
It is perhaps complicated for us to grow much more, because most of the companies in the sector in Spain and many international companies are already affiliated. We must make efforts to reach out to other sectors, such as industry, or other cross-cutting activities, such as the energy sector, etc. (for example, we will hold a conference on energy efficiency, renewables, green hydrogen, etc.).
AEDyR has also had an international growth and diffusion, thanks to our congresses, and also in its relationship with other Spanish associations (such as AEAS) or international associations (such as IDRA, EDS, ALADYR, etc.).
And, as we have said before, one of the biggest challenges for the sector and for AEDyR is to get our messages across efficiently.
- What are the main problems of sectoral business associations?
Perhaps one of the problems is to adapt the traditional structures of associations to the 21st century, in terms of digital transformation, how to communicate, how to disseminate information, how to make our work known, etc., and to respond to the new challenges and demands of companies.
- What role does communication play in your relationship with your partners and society at large?
Logically, it is a very important role, what is not communicated is as if it did not exist.
With our partners we have several communication mechanisms, such as the newsletter, social networks, especially Linkedin, or direct contact by email in some cases, and then we have the meeting points such as the General Assembly, congresses and conferences.
In the case of society in general, as I have already mentioned, there is a very important job to be done in terms of dissemination and information, because one of our greatest challenges is to fight against misinformation and inaccurate or outright false information that is circulating, especially about desalination.