During a certain period in the history of Spain, in the years of the Second Industrial Revolution, water companies played a very important role in managing a public service as necessary and complex as the supply of drinking water to the population. This article describes the emergence of these companies in the economic framework of the second half of the 19th century, as well as their expansion and territorial distribution, their evolution towards large companies that unified and monopolised the sector and their progressive decline in the 20th century, characterised by an increase in municipal control and influenced by different national and international war conflicts. The data collected in the different statistical yearbooks allows us to study these companies, and identify the characteristics of the modern drinking water system in Spain, together with the importance of foreign investment and the influence of these companies on the economic development of the time.

中文翻译：

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百年供水公司及其对西班牙社会发展的影响（1842-1942）

在西班牙历史上的某个时期，即第二次工业革命时期，自来水公司在管理公共服务方面发挥了非常重要的作用，如向人口供应饮用水一样必要和复杂。这篇文章描述了这些公司在 19 世纪下半叶的经济框架中的出现，以及它们的扩张和地域分布，它们向统一和垄断该行业的大公司的演变以及它们在 20 世纪的逐渐衰落，其特点是市政控制增加，并受到不同国家和国际战争冲突的影响。不同统计年鉴中收集的数据使我们能够研究这些公司，并确定西班牙现代饮用水系统的特征，