Explanatory Factors of Urban Water Leakage Rates in Southern Spain

The need of strategies leading to the sustainable management of water resources is an increasingly pressing issue, especially in regions that suffer greater water stress. Paradoxically, although there is awareness of this need, in many cities of the world, water losses remain high. This is a concern not only in developing countries, but also a challenge in developed countries. In this paper we analyze the case of Andalusia, the region with the greatest level of water stress in the European Union, which exhibits relatively high urban water losses. We pose the question of why the water losses are so high in some cities of Andalusia. In order to find an answer, we analyze data from 133 cities. We find that water loss volumes are related to the age of networks, the dispersion of population, population growth and the size of water reserves. The ideology of local governments and whether there is private participation in service management seem to exert no statistically significant effects.