Public policies as strategic asset management enablers: the case of Portugal

Urban water supply, wastewater and storm water services (globally, water services) are essential to the society. The lack of permanent, safe and respondent services has inevitable consequences on the public health and well-being of the communities, on the economy and on the environment. Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognises this, and failing to meet it necessarily affects the accomplishment of many of the other SDGs. Water services provision depends on expensive and long-lasting physical assets. Managing them strategically (e.g., according to the international standards on asset management, series ISO 55x and to the IWA recommendations on infrastructure asset management) is therefore fundamental for sustainable societies. Countries need to have sound public policies that enable asset management. Portugal is a paradigmatic case. This paper presents key building blocks of an enabling public policy for water services, using Portugal to exemplify possible implementation solutions. It elaborates on key governments’ goals, on the importance of a coherent public policy to meet them, on key building blocks that a sound public policy should consider in order to enable asset management and on the links between public policy building blocks and asset management. It also presents how Portugal has been implementing this process, addressing challenges to overcome.