Every time we turn on the tap, we introduce a piece of nature into our homes: water that we obtain from the natural environment and that we use to satisfy our needs. But after use it is essential to return it in good condition to the rivers. There, the work of companies such as Aquona is essential, which is in charge of managing the water cycle in 90 municipalities in Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León, providing daily service to more than 1,000,000 inhabitants.
This May 22, on the occasion of the celebration of the UN International Day of Biological Diversity, Aquona explains the work it carries out to keep ecosystems and wildlife in good condition. A daily and continuous task, that sometimes the citizen does not perceive, but that is essential for the sustainability of our rivers.
European laws, such as the Water Framework Directive, and Spanish legislation, oblige to treat wastewater and return it in good condition to rivers, something that hundreds of Aquona employees work on, applying the most advanced technologies and a focused approach. in sustainability and respect for the environment.
 "Healthy ecosystems, such as rivers, riverside vegetation and wetlands, allow us to enjoy quality water and help us to regulate episodes of abundant rains, to protect urbanized environments from floods or to maintain adequate water reserves" , explains Laura de Vega, Aquona's Director of Sustainable Development.

Naturalize water facilities
A strategic line of Aquona, a Suez group company, is to turn its plants into biodiversity refuges, which is why in 2016 it published the Operational Guide for the Conservation of Biodiversity in the Comprehensive Water Cycle, a reference document in these issues.
“No one doubts that the management of the integral water cycle is intrinsically positive for the environment thanks to the treatment of wastewater, the conservation of resources or energy savings, but we also carry out specific tasks to promote biodiversity, collaborating to the improvement of the local natural environment ”, explains De Vega.
Aquona's strategy is substantiated by various pioneering initiatives. One of them is the renunciation of the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, resorting to other perhaps more laborious ways of managing the land, but with less unwanted impacts on biodiversity. In fact, 100% of the water treatment facilities that Aquona manages have recently acquired the 'phytosanitary free space' label.
Another area of ​​work is the naturalization of green areas, leaving wild areas for native fauna and flora to flourish.
The elimination of invasive plant species is another of the tasks carried out in water treatment facilities, to ensure that they have the most natural state possible. Thus, it contributes to the eradication of species harmful to ecosystems classified as such by the Ministry for Ecological Transition.

Bird watching and climate change
Ducklings, herons, orioles, wagtails, woodpeckers, goldfinches, verdigris, robins, mosquito nets, chickadees, nightingales ... It is not a list of the birds that can be observed in natural parks, but an inventory of the species that since the beginning of this 2021 they have found refuge in Aquona's water treatment plants.
The technicians add to their occupations a small naturalistic task: recording the birds that pass through the water treatment centers. The task is part of the BioObserva program. It is an environmental volunteer initiative launched by the Suez group in which Aquona workers are involved in the sighting of bird species. They thus participate in a citizen science platform together with operators from all over Spain.
The observations made by Aquona employees have a local as well as a global dimension. In the long term, sightings can help analyze the effects of climate change on the dispersal and migration of birds, explains Laura de Vega, Aquona's director of Sustainable Development.
"Our firm commitment is to contribute to the 2030 Agenda of the municipalities in which we operate, to improve people's quality of life, preserve the environment and contribute to local development," adds De Vega.
The BioObserva program has the collaboration and advice of the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO / BirdLife) and the Institut Català d'Ornitologia (ICO). Specifically, it takes place in Segovia, Palencia, Zamora, Benavente, Daimiel and Ciudad Real.

Sustainability and circular economy
Promoting biodiversity is just one part of Aquona's focus on sustainability. Currently, its facilities are cutting-edge in the use of various technologies that improve energy efficiency and convert what was previously waste into assets that can be reused as raw material.
The sludge extracted from the water treatment plants is converted into fertilizers for agricultural use, managing to recirculate materials and at the same time preventing nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorus from affecting the quality of rivers and wetlands. At the same time, the plants are capable of producing energy, either through the use of solar panels or by generating biogas thanks to the treatment of organic waste with modern biodigesters, in a clear contribution to the mitigation of climate change. In this case, it is the microorganisms that work the miracle of converting the waste into energy, in a brilliant example of technology and alliance with nature.
The contribution of water companies to the 2030 Agenda and the UN Sustainable Development Goals is very broad, as water is an essential vector that is related to many fields of the environment.
Aquona's wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) make palpable that concept of circular economy that is so in vogue today and that in the water cycle is already a reality. 
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