ROME (ITALPRESS) – Investments made in Italy in the water sector have reached 65 euros per inhabitant per year in 2023, with an estimated growth to 72 euros per year in 2024 and up to 80 euros in 2025, also due to projects related to the implementation of the PNRR. This is the picture that emerges from the Blue Book Notebook “Investments for water security and service quality,” produced by the Utilitatis Foundation and promoted by Utilitalia, presented today in Rome at the CNEL headquarters.In recent years, investments in the water sector have undergone a significant transformation. From 2021 to 2023, industrial managers – which in the sample analyzed cover about 66 percent of the population – have made investments of about 7.1 billion euros, a figure that rises to 13.2 billion if the interventions planned for the two-year period 2024-2025 are considered Still very low are the figures for “in economia” management, where local authorities deal directly with the water service: in 2023, average investments stood at 29 euros per inhabitant at the national level, compared to 65 euros for industrial managers.The study shows a general trend toward increased investment, although marked differences emerge between macroareas and revenue classes. For example, in the Northern and Central regions there is an average per capita investment that varies between 63 and 73 euros, a figure that in the South drops to 32 euros (albeit in the presence of operators that record performance comparable to the best national experiences) with forecasts of recovery up to 58 euros by 2025 thanks in part to PNRR-funded interventions. At the same time, the analysis by turnover class reveals that managers with a turnover of less than 25 million euros invest an average of 44 euros per inhabitant, while larger ones exceed 68 euros. Of note is the performance of medium-sized operators (turnover between 25 and 50 million euros), which stand at 64 euros per inhabitant, demonstrating how intermediate operators, thanks to greater managerial flexibility, can also mobilize significant capital.A further highlight is public funds and contributions (FP&C), which for the period 2021-2023 reached about 2.4 billion euros, a figure that is set to grow to 5.1 billion including the period 2024-2025. The average per capita contribution, up from €17 to €33, is particularly pronounced in the central and southern regions, demonstrating the positive effect of extraordinary financial instruments, such as the NRP and REACT-EU. The average incidence of public funds and grants on gross investment is 68 percent in the South and islands, 43 percent in the Center, 35 percent in the Northeast and 29 percent in the Northwest. “These instruments,” explains Utilitalia President Filippo Brandolini, “have certainly contributed to the acceleration of recent years. But thinking in a future perspective that goes beyond the time horizon of 2026 and therefore of the PNRR, the resources derived from the tariff should also be accompanied by a share of public contribution of at least 1 billion euros per year for the next 10 years, to carry out an extraordinary plan of interventions aimed at ensuring the protection of the resource and the territory, as well as ensuring the continuity of the service even in periods of increasingly frequent climatic stress and adapting the purification plants in accordance with the provisions of the wastewater directive.”At the same time, the historical series of investments, analyzed on a sample of 38 operators, testifies to a progressive improvement in per capita spending, with an overall increase of +99% between 2012 (the year the ARERA regulation was initiated) and 2023. For Utilitalia vice-president Barbara Marinali, “this study testifies to an important growth in investments in the water sector, which have seen an important surge from 2021 to the present. Much has been done but much remains to be done: in recent years, climate change has led to a further reduction in the availability of the resource, aggravated by an infrastructural deficit that Italy suffers compared to other European countries.” Also with regard to the historical series of investments, a relevant boost was recorded in the period 2017-2018, probably following the introduction of the regulation of technical quality of service (RQTI – Del. 917/2017/Idr ARERA), which activated incentive and penalty mechanisms based on the achievement of specific quality standards. A further propulsive thrust, again, is recorded from the period in which the NRP went into action and until the conclusion of the time window of the instrument’s enforceability. “The increase in investments that has been recorded in Italy,” notes Professor Mario Rosario Mazzola, president of the Utilitatis Foundation, “induced by the combination of financial instruments and the effectiveness of incentive regulation demonstrates the validity of the virtuous path that has been taken. It is necessary to continue on this path by increasingly pursuing not only the quantity but also the quality of interventions in the face of the challenges of new EU directives and climate change. “The hydrological system,” says CNEL President Renato Brunetta, “is undergoing profound transformations, linked primarily to climate change. Transformations that impact the effectiveness and sustainability of water networks, the ability to ensure full accessibility of the water good and at the same time the ability to safeguard the environment. CNEL has paid great attention to these issues, particularly in the framework of the Annual Report on Public Services, where we included a specific focus on the water sector, carried out in collaboration with the Utilitatis Foundation. This work then led to one of the first bills presented by CNEL in this Council term, aimed at the protection, rationalization and efficiency of water resources, with the objective of reorganizing the regulatory framework on the subject. It is an initiative that stems from the awareness that on proper management of the hydrological system depends not only the safety of territories and the well-being of people but also the competitiveness and social cohesion of communities.”
– photo press office Utilitalia -(ITALPRESS).
