interview Are we generally aware of the value of water? What we should ask ourselves is if there is anything more important. Obviously, education is essential, as is infrastructure, but the lack of water condemns millions of peo-ple to a precarious life, making it impossible to even access educa-tion. Water supply is the first basic principle: it is the basis of human development and the econo-my because, without it, there is no agriculture, industry, or any essential subsistence activity. It is possible that we do not val-ue it because we open the faucet and there it is, but when you do not have running water because something broke, you start to appreciate something you took for granted. Could the scarcity brought on by cli-mate change heighten that aware-ness? It is a serious global challenge, present, of course, in Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific, where we are working on the first basic networks, but also in the Near East and Spain where we have better infrastructure, but MORE personal If a child were to ask you what you do… I would tell them “We clean water,” that’s what a desalination, purification or treatment plant does, it cleans water so that we can drink and use it. The person who inspired you to become an engineer… I think it was my own vocation. Since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to be what I am, to design, plan and build great things that do good for the envi-ronment. I am lucky to work in the field I studied. What great challenge to the environment would you fix right now? Definitely beating water stress, ensuring that qual-ity water can reach every-one affordably. What solution you would endorse to achieve it? Desalination. Moving for-ward in the process of improving it, which would allow us to consume less energy and lower costs so that drinkable water is available to more people in more places. Which idea would you convey to your team to motivate them? How their work contrib-utes to the most import-ant essential resource, and the professional privi-lege of participating in the entire lifecycle of a project, from concept to operation. For an engineer that’s the best. A movie about water? A Passage to India. I remember how it shows how important the Ganges is to everyone who lives near it. The presence of the river, and how all of life revolves around the water.