The Tribunal Superior de Justícia de Catalunya has ordered the Ajuntament de Terrassa to return to Mina Pública d"Aigües de Terrassa assets, clients and rights linked to the water municipalization process started in 2016. The ruling, issued on April 18, affects a part of the service that since March 2018 is directly managed by the public entity Taigua.
The council is now studying the possibility of filing an appeal before the Supreme Court. It has a period of 30 days to decide whether it challenges the resolution.
What part of the service is affected
The return of customers is limited to specific areas of the municipality. The resolution includes the historic center of Terrassa, the neighborhood of Can Parellada and the settlements of Aigües Calonge, Aigües Reig and Fontcoberta.
The former concessionaire maintains that this measure would have an impact on about 20,000 subscribers, a figure that would be equivalent to 20% of Taigua's current customers. Even so, the TSJC requires Mina to documentarily prove which customers it claims before any refund is executed.
The position of the Ajuntament
The government team maintains that the ruling confirms that the distribution network has correctly reverted to the local administration and defends that the infrastructure is 100% public. The City Council also stresses that what relates to the properties does not leave without effect the segregation agreement that in its day was elevated to the plenary session.
The direct management of the service was definitively approved in March 2018, when the municipal plenary gave green light to the public model through Taigua. That decision closed the political and administrative process opened two years earlier to municipalize the supply.
Possible economic impact
The ruling also contemplates an eventual compensation in favor of the former concessionaire if the Ajuntament cannot undo the effects of the transfer. That compensation could reach 20 million euros, a figure that adds pressure to the legal analysis that the council now has on the table.
The next step will depend on whether the City Council chooses to appeal before the Supreme Court and on the documentation that Mina presents to specify the scope of the clients and rights it claims. Meanwhile, Terrassa once again places at the center of the debate one of the most relevant remunicipalization processes in Cataluña.