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Swimming pools constitute an important part of the expanding suburban landscapes of many cities of southern Europe. Yet we know relatively little about their characteristics and especially about whether or not they capture a substantial part of urban water for the benefit of a few that could be used for other more essential tasks, especially in periods of scarcity. In this paper, taking the metropolitan region of Barcelona as a case study, we estimate the number of residential (private) swimming pools in this area, their characteristics and their water consumption. Our analysis is set against the context of important changes in the nature of the urbanisation process in Barcelona and in other southern European cities, namely the expansion of low-density growth and with this the expansion of outdoor water uses such as gardens planted with turf grass and swimming pools. However, results do not seem to support the assumption that swimming pools take a substantial part of the domestic water resources of the region or that they are a luxury affordable only by the very rich. Swimming pools represent little over 1 per cent of total domestic water consumption of the Barcelona region and they can be found in both higher and lower income municipalities. Nevertheless, swimming pools tend to be more often found in richer municipalities, which are also those observing higher per capita water consumption.a rea_961 67..75 * Per cent over all residential units. Lpd: litres per person per day Source: Own elaboration 70 Vidal et al.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the main changes regarding flood policy in Spain during the period 1983-2013, that is right after the large and very damaging episodes of 1982-1983 in Valencia, Catalonia and the Basque Country. Design/methodology/approach – This is above all a review paper that looks retrospectively at flood policy in Spain during the past three decades. In order to collect and organize the information the authors follow the methodology of the IPCC regarding vulnerability studies. That is, the authors provide evidence for an overall assessment of the evolution of exposure, sensibility and adaptive capacity to floods in Spain for the period of reference. The authors approach these issues through the own experience and expertise on this subject as noted in the reference list. Findings – While exposure to floods has generally increased (especially after the massive growth of urbanization in flood prone land of the 1990s and early 2000s) overall flood policy has contributed to make Spain less sensible and more adapted to floods. Still some issues remain unsolved especially the control of urban growth and the adaptation of the built environment to floods. For these reasons absolute economic losses from floods may continue to be important in the future (perhaps more so with climate change) even though, overall, Spanish society may have become less vulnerable and therefore more resilient than in the past. Originality/value – The paper provides a retrospective study and assessment of policies taken and their changes regarding floods at a national level over a long period of time (30 years) which is a theme still relatively little explored in the scientific literature on this hazardThis work was supported by the Spanish CICYT under Grants Nos CS02012-36997-C02-01, CS02012-36997-C02-02 and CSO2013-41262-

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