Since 1 July 2026, Pratdip Town Council has managed the water service directly, following the end of its management contract with Comaigua. Maintenance of the municipal drinking water and sewer networks is nevertheless entrusted to a specialist company, Transparenta. At the council meeting on 19 October, the municipal executive also reports on progress with a new remote monitoring and control system, which it says is already installed at the reservoir on Magnolia Street.
Who maintains the network? What does the new equipment do? What funding is available? Official documents and the explanations given during the meeting help clarify how the service is organised.
A contractor to maintain the networks
By a decree dated 8 May 2026, the council awards Transparenta Cicle Integral de l’Aigua, SL the contract for preventive and corrective maintenance of the municipal drinking water and sewer networks. The contract starts on 1 July 2026 and runs for one year, with the option of a further one-year extension.
The services include locating and repairing faults, scheduled preventive maintenance and round-the-clock handling of reported incidents, seven days a week.
The contract provides for a fixed annual fee of €60,000 excluding VAT, or €72,600 including VAT. Additional variable charges apply to materials, treatment chemicals and specialist machinery used for repairs, at the agreed unit prices.
This fixed fee therefore does not represent the water service’s total expenditure. It covers the municipal networks included in the contract and cannot be presented as spending exclusively on Planes del Rei.
The council retains responsibility for the service
This maintenance contract does not give Transparenta overall responsibility for managing the water service. The contract description specifically excludes administering and collecting water charges, health monitoring and water quality testing, and managing remote metering or monitoring and control systems.
These exclusions define the division of responsibilities: the company carries out the technical services specified in the contract, while the council remains responsible for organising the service.
The decree describes this arrangement as a transitional solution while a comprehensive service delivery model is developed and implemented.
A new remote control system announced at the Magnolia Street reservoir
At the extraordinary council meeting on 19 October 2026, the municipal executive states that the new remote monitoring and control system is already installed at the reservoir on Magnolia Street. It also announces work in the Santa Marina residential development.
Remote monitoring and control allows installations to be supervised from a distance. According to the explanations given during the meeting, the council’s access to the previous system was limited to monitoring: whenever action was required, someone still had to visit the site. The new system is intended to allow certain equipment to be operated remotely, particularly starting and stopping pumps.
The municipal executive explains that installation has taken longer than expected because of technical difficulties and a lack of usable diagrams. It also states that Comaigua’s temporary provision of the existing remote monitoring and control service is being extended until 30 November 2026 to support the transition.
The stated aim is to have a council-owned system that remains available even if the company working on the network changes.
A €60,624.54 budget allocation for municipal remote monitoring and control
Budget amendment No. 14/2026, published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Tarragona on 19 October, provides a €60,624.54 allocation for a remote monitoring and control system for water reservoirs.
The municipal project receives €10,000 from nuclear transition funds, reallocated with the funding body’s approval. According to the information given at the council meeting, the project includes the reservoir on Magnolia Street in Planas del Rey. The budget document does not specify how the €60,624.54 is divided between installations: neither this allocation nor the €10,000 in nuclear transition funding can therefore be attributed entirely to Planas.
This allocation authorises expenditure. It does not, by itself, establish that the entire project has been completed or paid for.
What this could mean for residents
For residents, the next point to assess is how effectively this equipment operates and whether it helps maintain a continuous water supply. The announced installation at the Magnolia Street reservoir does not yet allow its results to be measured.
This equipment does not replace repairs to pipes, pumps or other parts of the network. Its installation therefore does not mean that supply interruptions and leaks have been resolved.
La Tribune de Planas
Sources
- Contract award decree No. 2026-0143 of 8 May 2026: preventive and corrective maintenance of the municipal drinking water and sewer networks, in Catalan.
- Official award notice for contract No. 2026/04: maintenance of Pratdip’s municipal drinking water and sewer networks, published on 4 June 2026 on Catalonia’s public procurement platform, in Catalan.
- Notice of final approval of budget amendment No. 14/2026, BOPT of 19 October 2026, CVE 2026-09405, in Catalan.
- Recording of the extraordinary council meeting of 19 October 2026, in Catalan. Explanations given during the meeting are reported as statements by the municipal executive.
