AGENCIA CATALANA DE L'AIGUA

Their core work

The Catalan Water Agency (ACA) is the public authority responsible for water cycle management in Catalonia, Spain — covering water supply planning, river basin management, flood risk governance, and environmental quality of water bodies. In H2020 projects, they contribute real-world regulatory and operational expertise on water management at regional scale, serving as a living laboratory for testing nature-based solutions, circular water systems, and climate adaptation strategies. Their role bridges policy implementation and applied research, bringing decades of hands-on experience managing Mediterranean water resources under increasing climate stress.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their earlier H2020 work (2016–2018), ACA focused on emergency response to extreme weather events and circular water economy — reflecting immediate operational priorities like flood management and resource efficiency. From 2020 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward biodiversity, nature-based solutions, ecosystem restoration, and upscaling — signaling a move from reactive risk management to proactive ecological regeneration. This mirrors the broader European policy shift toward green infrastructure and nature-positive water management.

ACA is moving from traditional water engineering toward ecosystem-based approaches, making them an increasingly relevant partner for nature-based solution demonstrations in Mediterranean climate contexts.

How they like to work

ACA exclusively participates as a partner or third party — never as coordinator — which is typical for a public authority contributing real-world test sites, regulatory insight, and operational data rather than leading research design. They work in large consortia (162 unique partners across 5 projects), indicating comfort operating within complex multi-national teams. Their value lies in providing a genuine public-sector implementation perspective that research-only teams often lack.

ACA has collaborated with 162 unique partners across 33 countries — a remarkably wide network for just 5 projects, reflecting participation in large-scale pan-European demonstration and innovation actions. Their network spans all major EU research nations with no narrow geographic clustering.

What sets them apart

ACA brings something most research partners cannot: actual regulatory authority over a major Mediterranean river basin, making their involvement a direct bridge between research outputs and real policy implementation. They manage water infrastructure serving 7.5 million people under conditions — drought, flash floods, coastal pressures — that climate models predict will become common across Southern Europe. For any consortium needing a credible public-sector end-user to demonstrate impact and policy uptake, ACA is an unusually strong choice.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RECONECT
  Largest funding (EUR 205,946) and longest duration (2018–2024), focused on demonstrating and upscaling nature-based solutions for hydro-meteorological risk — ACA's core operational domain.
• NextGen
  Positioned ACA within the circular economy for water, combining water reuse, energy recovery, and materials recycling in large-scale demonstration sites across Europe.
• REST-COAST
  Most recent project (2021–2026) and their first as a third party, signaling expanding engagement into coastal restoration and blue carbon — a new frontier for a river basin authority.