Portal de Murcia
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The City Council has set itself the challenge of reducing 240,000 tons of CO2 by 2012, 20% of emissions from city |
The Mayor of Murcia, Miguel Ángel Cámara, has participated this morning at the International Conference on Water Footprint, held in Madrid and is organized by the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs and the Institute for Sustainable Resources .
House has focused his speech, among other issues, water management as a key theme of our development and, therefore, high sensitivity, and also broad consensus in society.
The Mayor stressed that Aguas de Murcia, the Municipal Water and Sanitation of Murcia, as a company responsible for managing the urban water cycle, "is well aware of this sensitivity and aspiration of all to make our city Murcia and environment in a more healthy, prosperous, and sustainable, providing a good quality of life for all. "
Although in the Municipality of Murcia's population has grown by 18% in the last 4 years, water consumption has fallen to historic lows.
Currently, registered 120 liters per capita per day against the national average of around 136 l / person day.
This makes the city of Murcia is at the forefront of water conservation nationwide.
House has also highlighted some special savings programs such as Green Homes awareness campaign to help reduce their water footprint and the footprint of Murcia
In May of this year 2009, ALEM, Aguas de Murcia and the Department of Environment and Urban quality of the City Council have launched the Green Homes project, 150 families performing water audits and energy to this project intends to save between 6 and 10% of domestic water consumption and energy.
Aware of the current situation and the potential consequences of inaction, the City Council of Murcia has taken up the challenge of combating climate change resolve and reduce our impact on the environment through sustainable management of our key resources: water and energy.
To perform most of these local policies on energy and climate change, in 2008 the city of Murcia created ALEM, the Local Agency for Energy and Climate Change Murcia.
ALEM's mission is to participate and guide the municipal policies of efficiency and energy saving policies to promote renewable energy and sustainable urban mobility.
The agency is part of the European agency network power management and has four main pillars of work:
1 - Reduction of municipal energy consumption.
2 - Efficient Building and Urban Planning.
3 - Sustainable Mobility.
4 - Advocacy and public awareness.
With the local strategy to combat climate change Murcia City Council has set itself the challenge of reducing CO2 240000 tonnes by 2012, representing 20% of the emissions generated by the municipality in which the municipality has power to act .
To achieve this, have pledged a total of 104 measures in different fields of activity such as energy, water management, waste management, generation of sinks and adaptation to climate change.
The Mayor has stated that water problems will not disappear by themselves.
On the contrary, worsen unless we as a global community, respond.
A series of recent studies shows how fragile the balance water.
Lasting solutions to water challenges require a wide range of expertise about climate, ecological, population, engineering, community politics, and local cultures.
What is the water footprint?
Water Footprint is the volume of water needed for the production of goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of that country (or industry, or person. To calculate the water footprint of countries are taken into account several factors:
The total volume of consumption (level of wealth of the country)
The patterns of water consumption (a country that consumes a lot of meat will have more track than a country with a tendency to not eat meat, so as a country that consumes more manufactures 7industrialmente water footprint will be greater than those without).
The weather is also relevant, because in warmer regions (where water evaporates faster) you need more water for crops.
It also considers the water-saving agricultural practices and are efficient in their use.
The aim of this conference is to convey the importance of conserving water resources and use the water footprint as an indicator essential to guide management policies, enabling the competent authorities to make technical decisions based on specific calculations.
Given the environmental, social and economic status of water resources, it is desirable to reduce water consumption to sustainable levels.
It is therefore vital to know the actual consumption of water and from this information to design appropriate strategies for its reduction.
The water footprint allows for a real indicator of water use, as regards the volume of water required to sustain a population, ie directly related to water consumption by individuals.
More information and photos www.alcaldemurcia.es
Source: Ayuntamiento de Murcia
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