27/09/2024
Agua Segura

Getting to Know the Community: The First Step to a Successful Water Project.

Carolina Pittella – Project Manager at Agua Segura

When it comes to water projects in rural areas, the challenge isn’t so much about “what” to do, but “how” to do it. In my experience, understanding the community and the water resources available in the area is the first and most crucial step in developing an effective work plan. Listening to people, understanding their customs and needs, allows us to build realistic and sustainable projects that have a true impact on their lives.

Local Allies: Key to Understanding the Territory

In the process, I always start by including local work teams as key allies. They’re the first to point out the limitations and challenges we’ll face. While it might seem daunting at first, it’s at that moment when the right questions emerge, and the true scope of the project begins to take shape.

These teams know better than anyone the climatic conditions, appropriate schedules, local suppliers, and necessary logistics, such as road conditions or costs. Taking these aspects into account can make a huge difference in the project’s success and optimize available resources.

Foundations in the Territory: Bridges to the Community

In addition to local teams, foundations that have been working in the territory for years are fundamental pieces. They not only know the specific needs of the community but also facilitate initial contact and help adjust the project’s scope, if necessary.

Establishing a close relationship opens doors for implementing quicker and more effective solutions. Entering the territory hand-in-hand with someone known will pave the way for subsequent challenges and facilitate the community’s ownership of the solutions.

Adapted and Effective Communication

Another key factor in planning is choosing the right communication channel for each team. Not everyone communicates or receives information in the same way. Identifying whether a call, video call, message, or email is the best option helps maintain an efficient and effective workflow.

Furthermore, it’s essential to adjust communication frequency according to available time and, if necessary, conduct in-person visits to strengthen relationships and ensure the project progresses smoothly.

The Importance of Context and Teamwork

Ultimately, a project in a rural community can only succeed if we understand the context and build strong alliances with those who know the terrain best. Thus, teamwork becomes the key to bringing safe water to those who need it most.

At Agua Segura, we are committed to community projects that integrate technical solutions with active listening, cultural respect, and local participation. Because no system works if it’s not designed with people at its center, and no solution is sustainable if it doesn’t originate from the territory itself.

For more information please visit our website: aguasegura.com

20/03/2026

💧World Water Day: Why Access to Water Strengthens Food Security and the Role of Rural Women

Every March 22nd, World Water Day invites us to reflect on a resource essential for life, health, ecosystems, and development. However, when we talk about water, the debate often centers solely on domestic access or infrastructure. While these issues are fundamental, water also sustains something equally vital: the ability to produce food and support entire communities.

In many regions of the world, access to water defines more than just daily life. It also determines who can plant, produce, sustain a family economy, and remain resilient in the face of the climate crisis. In this context, the link between water, agriculture, gender, and food security becomes increasingly evident.

At Agua Segura, we believe that speaking about water security implies looking at the entire system: access to water, watershed management, territorial resilience, and the impact water has on production, local development, and individual opportunities.

🌍 Water as the Foundation of Food Production

Water is one of the most decisive resources for agriculture. Without reliable and sustainable access to water, there is no stable production, no capacity to adapt to droughts, and no resilient food systems.

Globally, the agricultural sector is responsible for approximately 70% of freshwater use, demonstrating just how interconnected water and food production truly are. But this relationship isn’t just about volume; it’s about how water is managed, who can access it, what technologies are available, and how prepared communities are to face water scarcity scenarios.

In a context of increasing water stress, watershed degradation, and climate change, access to water for agriculture becomes a key condition to:

Strengthen food security.
Improve the climate resilience of production systems.
Reduce the vulnerability of rural communities.
Expand economic opportunities in agricultural territories.
Promote more efficient and sustainable production.

That is why, when we speak of safe water, we are not just talking about human consumption. We are also talking about the possibility of sustaining livelihoods, local production, and territorial development.

👩‍🌾 Women and Water: A Key Relationship for Food Security

The gender dimension is central to this conversation. According to the FAO, women represent approximately 43% of the global agricultural labor force. Furthermore, in many countries, they produce between 60% and 80% of all food.

Despite this fundamental role, rural women continue to face significant barriers in accessing:

Land and productive resources.
Financing and technical assistance.
Agricultural technology.
Irrigation systems.
Water storage and distribution infrastructure.

When water is scarce, these inequalities deepen. In contexts of water crisis, many women must dedicate more time to securing water for their homes, reducing their production possibilities or facing greater difficulties in sustaining crops, livestock, and family economies. This impacts not only their economic autonomy but also the food security of their communities.

Therefore, improving access to water is also a way to reduce structural gaps and strengthen the role of women in rural production systems.

🌱 Access to Water: Much More Than Resource Availability

Access to water is not limited to the physical existence of the resource. It also implies having the actual conditions to use it safely, efficiently, and sustainably.

This includes:

Adequate infrastructure.
Efficient irrigation systems.
Safe storage.
Protection and restoration of watersheds.
Local water governance.
Training and technical support.

In other words, improving access to water is not just about increasing supply, but about building more resilient, equitable, and sustainable systems.

A key figure highlights this: according to the FAO, if female farmers had the same access to productive resources as men, agricultural production could increase significantly—with estimates in some contexts reaching up to a 30% improvement in productive outcomes.

This data proves something fundamental: investing in water, infrastructure, technology, and equitable access does not just improve resource management. It can also transform production systems, strengthen rural economies, and contribute to greater global food security.

🌎 Water, Climate Resilience, and Rural Development

Climate change is intensifying water-related challenges. Prolonged droughts, extreme rainfall, precipitation variability, and ecosystem degradation are altering how rural communities produce food and manage their territories.

In this scenario, water becomes a decisive factor for climate resilience. When a community has access to safe water, adequate irrigation, efficient practices, and strengthened local governance, it improves its capacity to:

Adapt to periods of scarcity.
Sustain agricultural production.
Reduce losses.
Protect their livelihoods.
Make decisions based on information and planning.

For this reason, water is also an opportunity: an opportunity to build more resilient territories, more stable rural economies, and communities better prepared for climate uncertainty.

💧 Water Security with a Territorial and Social Focus

At Agua Segura, we work with the conviction that water security is not built through infrastructure alone. It requires an integrated approach that coordinates: Water, Production, Territory, Community, Education, Sustainability, and Equity.

Every watershed has its own dynamics, challenges, and opportunities. Therefore, solutions must be designed from the territory up, with local participation and a focus on measurable impact. When access to water improves, we are protecting more than just a resource; we are strengthening the possibilities to produce, sustain local economies, reduce inequalities, and build a more resilient future.

🌍 World Water Day: A Date to Expand the Conversation

World Water Day, commemorated every March 22nd, is an opportunity to remember that water is not just a natural resource: it is the foundation of life, health, production, and development.

It is also an opportunity to expand the conversation. To talk about water is to talk about food security, rural women, climate resilience, sustainable watershed management, and opportunities for communities.

Because when water is missing, it doesn’t just affect daily consumption. It weakens production systems, deepens inequalities, and limits people’s ability to build a better future. Conversely, when access to water improves, communities are strengthened, production is protected, and real conditions for a fairer and more sustainable development are created.

This March 22nd, we reaffirm one conviction: water also sustains communities, and guaranteeing its access is a key condition for food security and the resilience of our future.

22/07/2025

Networking: Local Allies for Lasting Impact

By the Agua Segura Team

At Agua Segura, we are convinced that no project can have a real and sustainable impact unless it is built together with those who know and inhabit the territory. Collaboration with local actors is not only an effective strategy but also an ethical principle that guides our way of working. In territories marked by resource scarcity and social vulnerability, understanding the context and community dynamics is as important as the technology or infrastructure being implemented.

The Importance of the Territory and Community Water Projects.

The challenges linked to water security are complex and require solutions adapted to each reality. Therefore, working with local allies is a fundamental part of how we do things. We rely on organizations, foundations, cooperatives, and local governments that understand the reality of the place and provide key insights to ensure that solutions truly work.

They are the ones who help us identify opportunities, who know the communities we will work with, and with whom we jointly design strategies adapted to each context. And, above all, they are the ones who make it possible for the impact to last over time.

Adapting Solutions to Local Reality

Sustainable water management requires planning that considers not only technical aspects but also social, cultural, and environmental ones. For example, installing a rainwater harvesting system or improving sanitation without understanding community customs can lead to rejection or lack of ownership. Therefore, before defining any intervention, we conduct a participatory diagnosis with key local stakeholders.

Listening to those who inhabit the territory is the first step towards a successful intervention. Often, water challenges are also linked to watershed management, water conservation in agricultural or domestic uses, or to problems of access and quality. Each territory presents a different range of possible solutions, and only through collaborative work can we choose the appropriate ones.

The Role of Grassroots Organizations

Foundations, civil associations, cooperatives, and other community organizations play a leading role. In many cases, they are already developing projects related to water, health, education, or local production. Working with them allows us to complement knowledge, strengthen local capacities, and ensure that actions do not dissipate over time.

These organizations also serve as a fundamental bridge to communities. They facilitate communication, help build trust, and act as catalysts for change. Furthermore, they often have greater flexibility to adapt to local rhythms and the particularities of each area. They are, ultimately, guardians of the process and strategic allies in implementation and monitoring.

Water Security: Shared Challenges, Joint Solutions.

Because when a project faces challenges—and there always are—it is precisely joint work that allows us to find answers. Mutual trust, constant dialogue, and a shared will to transform enable us to adapt, overcome obstacles, and move forward. Throughout our experience, we have learned that relationships are as important as results.

In contexts where access to water and sanitation remains a historical debt, we need to promote community water projects with a participatory approach. These projects not only improve infrastructure and water quality but also promote co-responsibility and the empowerment of people. The solution to the water crisis cannot be imposed; it must be built.

Sustainability Begins with Local Ownership

The permanence of results depends on community ownership. This includes both the maintenance of technologies and the continuity of hygiene practices and water care. When people feel part of the process, when they understand how a solution works and why it is important, they are more likely to sustain it over time.

Additionally, we promote WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) training workshops, where we address both technical and cultural issues. Nature-based solutions for water are also a fundamental axis in our interventions, integrating the restoration of aquatic ecosystems, aquifer recharge, and water replenishment as key strategies.

Building Networks That Transcend Projects

We know that truly transformative projects are not done alone. They are built through networks, and it is this joint work that achieves significant change and aligns with our purpose: water as a right, as a resource, as an opportunity. At Agua Segura, we foster public-private partnerships, links with local governments, universities, the private sector, and international organizations working for water security.

Corporate water responsibility also finds its place in this collaborative approach. Companies can be strategic allies in implementing sustainable solutions, contributing resources, technical knowledge, or strengthening value chains committed to local development.

A Commitment Built Day by Day

Ultimately, our experience shows that to achieve a sustainable impact, it is not enough to have a good technical solution. It is necessary to build relationships, respect the rhythms of the territory, learn to work with others, and trust in collective wisdom. Thus, each new project becomes an opportunity to grow together and ensure that the right to water is a reality for everyone.

Working with local allies is not just a methodology: it is a philosophy. A way of inhabiting territories with respect, humility, and commitment. It is also a way to address the water crisis collectively, recognizing that every person, every organization, and every community has something valuable to contribute to building a more just, resilient, and sustainable future.

For more information keep reading our posts at aguasegura.com/posts

20/08/2024

Bringing Companies on Board the Circular Economy Train

Manuel Sauri – CEO of Agua Segura

At Agua Segura, we develop, manage, and implement water footprint mitigation projects across the continent. We’ve engaged with dozens of new communities and launched nature-based solutions and WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) projects that have positively impacted thousands of families in the region.

For our team, the right to safe water is the driving force that pushes us to keep expanding our horizons and finding solutions to a problem that knows no borders. The water supply crisis affects nearly every corner of the planet and has been identified as the fourth greatest risk to society over the next decade. Food security, access to healthcare, soil and groundwater contamination, and the destruction of productive ecosystems are just some of the alarm bells ringing as we view the world through the lens of the “climate crisis.”

That’s why at Agua Segura, we insist on changing the way we approach the challenges of a development model that emphasizes the transformative opportunity of investing in green solutions. There’s no need to wait for change to happen elsewhere, at another time, or within large institutions. Any company that invests in water can generate a positive impact on its business model by increasing productivity, reducing commercial risks, developing secure supply chains, and strengthening both its social license to operate and its reputation.

This is the core of our company: getting global companies on board the water economy train by advising, supporting, and adapting impact programs to address the specific challenges each company faces. The power of our project lies in these strategic alliances, which help shape the society we want to live in—a world where everyone feels responsible for water and its use. Only then will it be a right accessible to all, enabling communities to thrive in safe ecosystems, while the private sector becomes a driving force for sustainable transformation and a leader in environmental stewardship.

This cooperation is already underway. The relationship between corporations and companies specializing in solutions to the socio-environmental crisis we inhabit is growing ever closer and more prosperous. Numerous projects are embracing this new understanding of the economy, where there is no business unless it is sustainable.

This overarching approach guides our strategic mission, for which we work every day, offering local solutions to global problems. We believe it sets a clear path toward reinventing the world we want to live in.

27/08/2026

Agua Segura at World Water Week 2026: Does water matter for business?

We’re excited to share that we’ll be taking part in the 2026 edition of World Water Week (linkedin.com/company/world-water-week) with our session “Does Water Matter for Business?”

In a world where return on investment (ROI) drives capital decisions, water projects are still too often treated as philanthropy. But if water is essential to productivity, resilience, operational continuity, and the future of industry, then we need to ask a more practical question: how do we build a business case for water strong enough to influence capital allocation?

A leading panel on corporate water management

Alongside our host and moderator Sara Hoversten (linkedin.com/in/sarahoversten), from Bonneville Environmental Foundation – BEF (linkedin.com/company/bonneville-environmental-foundation), we’ll explore this question with an exceptional group of panelists:

German Otalora Castro, from Microsoft (linkedin.com/in/german-otalora-castro-b41b5046 / linkedin.com/company/microsoft)
Yoshiko Hino, from Suntory Global Spirits (linkedin.com/in/yoshiko-hino-7b2158196 / linkedin.com/company/suntoryglobalspirits)
Santosh Govindaraju, from GRUNDFOS (linkedin.com/in/santoshgovindaraju2772 / linkedin.com/company/grundfos)
Catalina Deluchi, from Agua Segura (linkedin.com/in/catalinadeluchi/en / linkedin.com/company/aguasegura)
Antonella Maggioni, from Agrow (linkedin.com/in/antonella-maggioni-8885b36b / linkedin.com/company/agrow-analytics)

What we’ll discuss

The conversation will address how water is framed within business decisions — as risk, cost, sustainability, efficiency, supply chain resilience, CAPEX, or strategy — and what it takes for water to move from commitment to real investment.

Event details

Room A4, Level 6
Tuesday, August 25, 2:00 PM CEST
World Water Week 2026, Stockholm

The session will also be available online. You can join virtually by registering through the official World Water Week website.

We hope to see you there — in person or online — for a conversation about water, investment, resilience, and the future of business.

#WorldWaterWeek #WWWeek #WaterStewardship #WaterResilience #WaterForPeopleAndProgress #Sustainability #Regeneration

24/07/2026

How to Measure Your Environmental Footprint to Make Better Decisions: The Value of Digitalizing Water, Energy, and Waste Consumption

How to Measure Your Environmental Footprint to Make Better Decisions: The Value of Digitalizing Water, Energy, and Waste Consumption

Sustainability is no longer just about commitments or declarations. Today, companies need reliable data to understand their environmental impact, identify opportunities for improvement, and make strategic decisions that generate measurable results.

In this context, measuring the environmental footprint has moved beyond a reporting exercise to become a management tool. Understanding how an organization consumes water, energy, and resources — and how it generates waste — makes it possible to turn information into concrete actions that reduce costs, lower risks, and strengthen competitiveness.

At Agua Segura, we believe that environmental management begins with knowledge. That is why we developed, together with Unplastify, the Environmental Footprint Tool: a platform that allows organizations to digitalize consumption data, simulate scenarios, and design personalized strategies to improve their environmental performance.

Environmental management starts with data

Many companies know how much they pay for water, electricity, or waste management, but few have an integrated view of how those consumption levels impact their costs, operations, and sustainability goals.

A lack of consolidated information often makes it difficult to answer fundamental questions such as:

Where are the greatest savings opportunities?
What impact would adopting new technologies have?
How would costs change in response to new regulations or tariff variations?
Which projects generate the highest environmental and economic return?

Answering these questions requires up-to-date information, comparable indicators, and tools that allow different scenarios to be analyzed before investing.

What is the Environmental Footprint Tool?

The Environmental Footprint Tool is a platform designed to help organizations measure, analyze, and optimize their environmental performance through data-driven management.

The tool integrates three core dimensions:

Water consumption
Energy consumption
Waste management

Based on this information, it enables organizations to build a continuous operational diagnosis and identify concrete improvement opportunities.

More than a dashboard of indicators, it functions as a decision-support system.

Digitalizing to manage better

One of the main challenges in sustainability is that many decisions are still made reactively.

Digitalizing consumption makes it possible to move from an approach based on estimates to continuous management, where information becomes a competitive advantage.

The Environmental Footprint Tool enables organizations to:

digitalize water, energy, and waste consumption data;
benchmark performance against references drawn from a proprietary database;
detect economic and operational savings opportunities;
access AI-powered recommendations to guide decision-making.

This information helps prioritize actions and accelerates the implementation of improvements with measurable impact.

Simulating scenarios before investing

One of the platform’s most valuable features is the ability to run simulations.

Before implementing a solution, organizations can analyze different scenarios by considering variables such as:

regulatory changes;
cost variations;
adoption of new technologies;
consumption reduction strategies.

The system also estimates the investment required and the direct and indirect savings associated with each alternative.

This reduces uncertainty and helps prioritize projects with the greatest environmental and financial impact.

From data to implementation

Measuring is only the first step.

The real value emerges when information is transformed into concrete projects.

That is why Agua Segura supports organizations throughout the entire process:

identifying opportunities;
designing solutions;
selecting and coordinating suppliers;
overseeing implementation;
measuring and reporting the impact achieved.

This comprehensive approach turns environmental strategy into verifiable results.

Water, energy, and waste: an integrated perspective

Traditionally, these resources have been managed separately.

However, there is growing evidence that they form part of the same system.

Reducing water consumption can lower energy use. Optimizing processes can simultaneously reduce waste and costs. Implementing efficient solutions can generate environmental and economic benefits at the same time.

An integrated perspective therefore makes it possible to identify opportunities that often go unnoticed when each indicator is analyzed in isolation.

Sustainability also drives efficiency

Companies today face new challenges:

increasing regulatory pressure;
more demanding ESG objectives;
growing expectations from investors and consumers;
the need to reduce operating costs;
risk management related to water and climate change.

Having tools that make it possible to measure, benchmark, and project scenarios helps organizations respond to these challenges with objective information.

Sustainability moves beyond being solely an environmental goal to become a tool for business efficiency and resilience.

Technology for better environmental management

Digital transformation is also reaching the management of natural resources.

Tools like the Environmental Footprint Tool allow organizations to evolve from reactive management to preventive management, grounded in indicators and evidence.

This supports organizations in:

improving environmental performance;
reducing costs;
optimizing investments;
strengthening their ESG strategy;
advancing toward more sustainable production and operating models.

From commitment to action

Sustainability begins when decisions can be measured.

Digitalizing consumption, understanding the impact of operations, and evaluating different scenarios makes it possible to move from diagnosis to action with greater speed and precision.

At Agua Segura, we believe the future of environmental management will depend increasingly on the ability to turn data into decisions — and decisions into positive impact.

The Environmental Footprint Tool was developed precisely with that goal in mind: to help organizations convert information into concrete solutions and move toward more efficient, resilient, and sustainable management.

24/06/2026

World Environment Day: Why Plastic Is Also a Water Crisis

Every June 5th, the world pauses for a moment to remember something that should be self-evident: the planet we inhabit has limits. World Environment Day, led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is an opportunity to put the most urgent environmental challenges on the agenda and call for collective action.

This year, at Agua Segura, we want to highlight a connection that often goes unnoticed: the relationship between plastics and the water crisis. A relationship that is not metaphorical. It is chemical, ecosystemic, and deeply territorial.

Plastic doesn’t disappear. It breaks down and reaches the water

When plastic is not properly managed, it doesn’t disappear. It fragments into increasingly smaller particles — known as microplastics — that end up in rivers, watersheds, aquifers, and oceans. According to UNEP data, between 9 and 14 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year. But the problem doesn’t start or end at sea.

Microplastics have been found in drinking water sources, agricultural soils, fish tissue, and human blood. They affect aquatic biodiversity, disrupt the natural cycles of ecosystems, and compromise the quality of water that entire communities depend on to live, produce, and develop.

The plastic crisis and the water crisis are not two separate problems. They are two symptoms of the same production and consumption model that ignores the natural limits of the planet.

Water security and biodiversity: an interdependent system

At Agua Segura, we work with this reality on the ground every day. We know that water security cannot be guaranteed by infrastructure alone. It depends on healthy ecosystems, functioning watersheds, soils that absorb water effectively, and communities with the capacity to care for and manage this resource.

When ecosystems become contaminated — with plastics, agrochemicals, or industrial waste — that chain breaks down. Wetlands lose their retention capacity. Degraded soils no longer filter as they once did. Communities that rely on surface or groundwater sources are left exposed.

That is why talking about the environment on June 5th is also talking about water. And talking about water means talking about the natural systems that sustain it: forests, wetlands, soils, rivers, aquifers. All of them threatened, among other things, by plastic pollution.

What can companies do?

Organizations have a role that cannot be delegated. Not only because plastic and water are part of their value chains, but because they have the capacity to scale solutions that go beyond their own operations.

This year, together with Unplastify, we developed a series of special proposals for corporate teams looking to engage with this agenda in a concrete, meaningful, and transformative way:

Inspirational talk: a awareness session on the impact of plastics on water, nature, and communities. Ideal for building internal awareness and opening conversations about sustainability within teams.

Solution design workshop: a participatory dynamic for co-creating concrete responses to plastic and water challenges. An activity that combines creativity, collaboration, and purpose.

Clean-up day: a collective action experience in contact with urban nature. Because change is also built with our hands.

These proposals are not just team-building activities. They are opportunities for organizations to integrate the environmental agenda from within, with teams that understand the problem, commit to the solution, and build a culture of sustainability.

June 5th is a date. The commitment is permanent

World Environment Day serves an important function: it raises visibility. But the environmental crisis has no expiration date and cannot be resolved with a single awareness event. It requires strategic decisions, sustained investment, and the willingness to change production and consumption models that have carried decades of inertia.

At Agua Segura, we believe that companies that understand this have a real competitive advantage: they build resilience before scarcity forces them to. They design solutions before regulators require them. They generate value for their territory before social conflict demands it.

Plastic in water is not just an environmental problem. It is an indicator of how an organization relates to the ecosystem it depends on. And changing that is possible, measurable, and necessary.

Does your company want to activate Environment Day with real impact?

Together with Unplastify, we design tailored proposals for teams that want to go beyond communication and connect with concrete environmental action. Talks, workshops, and clean-up days designed to build awareness, creativity, and commitment.

If you’re interested in exploring how we can support your organization this June 5th — and beyond — reach out to schedule a call. We’re here to help you design a water and environmental impact strategy that makes sense for your company and your territory.

#WorldEnvironmentDay #Plastics #WaterSecurity #WaterStewardship #Sustainability #ESG #AguaSegura #Environment #SDG6 #Biodiversity