The Tribunal Superior de Justícia de Catalunya has ordered the Ajuntament de Terrassa to return to the Mina Pública d"Aigües de Terrassa clients, assets and supply rights within a maximum period of three months, in a ruling issued on April 18, 2026 regarding the conflict opened after the municipalization of the water service.
The resolution affects supplies located in the center of Terrassa, Can Parellada and the nuclei of Aigües Calonge, Aigües Reig and Fontcuberta. La Mina Pública d"Aigües de Terrassa maintains that the scope of the ruling affects about 20,000 subscribers, a figure equivalent to 20% of Taigua's customers, the municipal company that provides the service since 2018.
A three-month deadline and a possible compensation
The ruling sets a maximum margin of three months to nullify the consequences of the municipalization in those specific areas. If that restitution is not executed within that period, the council must face an indemnity which the MPAT places at more than 20 million euros.
The litigation has dragged on for years on account of the reversion of assets and rights linked to water supply. In 2021, the TSJC itself already concluded that part of the assets should not revert to the public administration. Despite this, the municipal plenary formally agreed in December 2023 not to proceed with the restitution.
The City Council considers appealing before the Supreme
The Ajuntament de Terrassa now has 30 business days to file an appeal in cassation before the Tribunal Supremo. The council's position is to defend that the ruling confirms the public nature of the distribution network and that it is up to MPAT to prove with documentation which private clients it claims.
The resolution again places at the center of the debate the delimitation between the elements of public ownership and the rights that the private company still considers valid in part of the service. The practical scope of the ruling will depend on whether the City Council chooses to appeal and on how it materializes, as applicable, the identification of clients, assets, and rights that should be restituted.
With this new judicial pronouncement, Terrassa faces another chapter of a conflict that remains open eight years after Taigua assumed the municipal water management, with a part of the service still under dispute in several areas of the city and its immediate surroundings.