Carlos Cosín, the CEO of Almar Water Solutions, part of Abdul Latif Jameel, was one of the speakers at the “Fair Water: Tackling Global Water Challenges” event held at the Spanish embassy in Washington, D.C. this week. The event, organized by ICEX Spain Trade and Investments (ICEX) in collaboration with Spain’s Economic and Trade Office in Washington brought together experts from around the world to debate issues surrounding global water challenges, including desalination, water resource management, water sector financing, water sustainability, and water in agriculture.

Carlos Cosín gave his perspective on the real challenges facing the water sector: a lack of education and awareness regarding water usage and current water reserves, and the lack of political will to resolve water-related challenges. Other challenges include limited investment in R&D in comparison with other sectors and the consequences of climate change. During his presentation, Carlos discussed the benefits of desalination and private participation in large-scale water projects, mentioning countries such as Algeria and Saudi Arabia as pioneers in taking pragmatic action to address water challenges.

Carlos stated: “According to the World Health Organization, only 50 liters of water per person per day are needed to ensure that their basic needs are met and the risks to public health are kept at acceptable levels, but we have not yet been able to achieve this goal…..until we solve the problem of lack of awareness about the true value of water, and until we make it a priority at a political and policy level, we will not be capable of making progress to solve the problem of water scarcity, water quality and the lack of water treatment.”

 The event was attended by experts from various international organizations including World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, USaid and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, as well as representatives from the federal, state and local governments, along with the leading Spanish companies in the water sector. The forum served to promote dialogue among the Spanish companies and the different agents related to the water cycle in the United States and around the world, given the global scope of the institutions present at the event.

Almar Water Solutions has offices in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. So far this year, it has signed three projects in Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Bahrain, making it one of the leading international companies in the water sector.