Presentation short abstract

We examine Barcelona’s Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) through a hydrosocial lens. We argue IPR acts as a technological fix: while promising "climate-proof" security, it obscures energy and equity risks. We call for a critical analysis of these new water imaginaries.

Presentation long abstract

Together with desalination, Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) emerges as a pivotal site of socio-technical innovation and controversy in the debates on urban water supply and management. Despite its growing prominence, IPR has received limited critical analysis compared to desalination. This contribution attempts to address this gap by examining IPR in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona through the lens of the hydrosocial cycle. Following the severe drought of 2023-2024, the regional strategy shifted beyond desalination to increasingly rely on IPR from the Llobregat and Besòs rivers to combat structural scarcity. Employing a qualitative methodology, we investigate the narratives that drive the imagining of a "climate-proof" water supply as foreseen in the new water planning documents prepared by the regional authority. Theoretically, the paper bridges critical hydrosocial perspectives with the concepts of sociotechnical imaginaries and futures-in-the-making. We argue that the planned expansion of IPR infrastructure functions as a technological fix for climate uncertainty, yet it simultaneously generates new tensions. While these solutions promise security, they obscure latent risks regarding health safety, energy intensity, and the socioeconomic impacts of rising water prices. By analyzing these dynamics, our contribution highlights the politics of reconfiguring urban water systems, demonstrating that the technological pursuit of resilience must be critically evaluated considering issues of distributive justice and social equity to shape truly sustainable futures.