Ferrol and Narón sign an agreement to regulate the cost of wastewater treatment

The city councils of Ferrol and Narón signed a collaboration agreement regulating the operation, maintenance, conservation, and ordinary management of the supramunicipal purification facilities that serve both municipalities, as well as the regime for the distribution and settlement of costs. The agreement, published in the Official Gazette of the Province of A Coruña number 173 on September 10, 2026 (announcement 2026/5851), was signed on July 30, 2026, and puts an end to a years-long institutional controversy.

The agreement was signed by the mayor of Ferrol, José Manuel Rey Varela, and the mayor of Narón, Marián Ferreiro Díaz, following approval by the competent municipal bodies in sessions on June 25, 2026. The instrument is administrative in nature and is formalized under articles 47 to 53 of Law 40/2015, of October 1, on the legal regime of the public sector, and Law 1/2022, of July 12, for the improvement of the management of the integrated water cycle.

A years-long dispute resolved by court ruling

The management of the sanitation and purification system serving Ferrol and Narón was the subject of institutional controversy for years due to the lack of an instrument regulating the conditions of service provision and the distribution of costs, which led to various contentious-administrative appeals. The ruling of the Court of First Instance of Ferrol in February 2026 partially upheld the claims of the Ferrol City Council, recognizing Narón’s obligation to assume the cost of the service received and the need to establish a specific collaboration instrument.

The system is organized through the General Interceptor, managed by ACUAES (Aguas de las Cuencas de España, S.A.), while the Malata pumping station and the Cabo Prioriño WWTP, located about eight kilometers away, are owned by Augas de Galicia, which entrusted their material management to the Ferrol City Council through EMAFESA, S.A.. In Narón, the managing entity is COSMA, S.A..

Pending payments and new economic regime

The agreement recognizes amounts pending payment by Narón for two periods:

• €3,390,071.53, corresponding to the provision of the purification service between April 2017 and June 30, 2023.
• €2,013,170.90, corresponding to the period between July 1, 2023, and December 31, 2025.

The total recognized amount amounts to €5,403,242.43, which must be paid within the deadlines provided in the sole transitional provision (three and six months from the signature, respectively). From the date of entry into force, the distribution of ordinary costs will be organized through a unit cost per cubic meter calculated from the total annual costs and the volumes recorded by the flow meters installed in the General Interceptor, with quarterly settlement. A maximum aggregate limit of €5,000,000 per fiscal year is established.

Validity and monitoring

The agreement will have an initial duration of four years, extendable for up to four more, and a monitoring, surveillance, and control commission is established, composed of four members, two from each council, which will meet at least once per quarter. Disputes that are not resolved within this commission will be submitted to the contentious-administrative jurisdiction.

For the taxpayers of both councils, the agreement provides a stable and transparent framework that resolves a years-long dispute over the cost of supramunicipal sanitation of the Ferrol estuary, allowing Narón to process the modification of its purification ordinance and provide financial coverage for its obligations, and guaranteeing the continuity of an essential public service.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of A Coruña, no. 173, September 10, 2026, Local Administration section (official reference: announcement 2026/5851).