Water mismanagement in Spain | The Economist
- 5 years ago
Spain is one of Europe's driest countries. The fate of one of its national parks is a lesson in resource management
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Water resources are being squeezed by climate change, population growth and changing lifestyles. Some say water will be the cause of future wars between nations. For the moment, however, the conflicts it produces are mostly local.
A good example of how competition for water generates conflicts can be found in Spain. In the north of the country, places like Bilbao are well watered, but in the south and east the threat of desertification looms large. It's in these parts of Spain that some of the most water intensive industries thrive. Tourism is an important element of the Spanish economy, comprising roughly 11% of GDP. Whilst lush golf courses in water stressed regions may seem out of place, keeping a course green uses comparatively little water. The industry that uses the most water by far in Spain is agriculture. But agriculture accounts for a small part of the country's GDP.
Spain may be one of Europe's biggest users of waste water in irrigation but farmers in places like Valencia and Andalusia still rely heavily on surface and ground water supplies. Plans to pipe water from the more verdant north of the country provoked angry protests and were mostly abandoned. Nobody wants to lose their water to someone else. So what do people who want more water than Nature gives them do?
They raid nature's own stores, the aquifers, that lie underground. The Tabias de Daimiel in central Spain is an interesting example. An exceptionally wet winter has now covered the National Park in water but until recently only 1% of the park was covered. Years of over-exploitation dried up the guardiana River which used to feed the wetlands. Farmers, meanwhile, have drained the aquifer with their wells. Last summer the wetlands became so dry that they began to self-combust. The fires burned underground, ripping through the peat underlining.
It’s being suggested that the damage caused by this could lead to the water now going into the wetlands leaking out. That process has already happened a few miles upstream where the river guadiana has been damaged for good. No amount of winter rain will allow it to recover. The Tabias de Daimiel may eventually die a similar death. A monument to man's inability to manage even relatively abundant water resources. How do you tackle the problem?
First you must recognize that you have one. In Spain that's taking a long time. In the Tabias de Daimiel region, the country's government is trying to control water use by buying up farms and wells. Essentially nationalizing some aspects of local farming. Water has also been piped in from other parts of the country, but the last time Spain's authorities tried this only 5% of the water actually reached the park; the rest was lost largely for natural reasons along the way.
Environmentalists argue that piping water into the wetland is a mistake. It makes people think that they don't need to protect their own resources; instead, they just demand more piped water. They say the best solution would be to turn off the tap and ban irrigation. Local farming would go to ruin. A painful but perhaps necessary lesson about how things should not be done.
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Water resources are being squeezed by climate change, population growth and changing lifestyles. Some say water will be the cause of future wars between nations. For the moment, however, the conflicts it produces are mostly local.
A good example of how competition for water generates conflicts can be found in Spain. In the north of the country, places like Bilbao are well watered, but in the south and east the threat of desertification looms large. It's in these parts of Spain that some of the most water intensive industries thrive. Tourism is an important element of the Spanish economy, comprising roughly 11% of GDP. Whilst lush golf courses in water stressed regions may seem out of place, keeping a course green uses comparatively little water. The industry that uses the most water by far in Spain is agriculture. But agriculture accounts for a small part of the country's GDP.
Spain may be one of Europe's biggest users of waste water in irrigation but farmers in places like Valencia and Andalusia still rely heavily on surface and ground water supplies. Plans to pipe water from the more verdant north of the country provoked angry protests and were mostly abandoned. Nobody wants to lose their water to someone else. So what do people who want more water than Nature gives them do?
They raid nature's own stores, the aquifers, that lie underground. The Tabias de Daimiel in central Spain is an interesting example. An exceptionally wet winter has now covered the National Park in water but until recently only 1% of the park was covered. Years of over-exploitation dried up the guardiana River which used to feed the wetlands. Farmers, meanwhile, have drained the aquifer with their wells. Last summer the wetlands became so dry that they began to self-combust. The fires burned underground, ripping through the peat underlining.
It’s being suggested that the damage caused by this could lead to the water now going into the wetlands leaking out. That process has already happened a few miles upstream where the river guadiana has been damaged for good. No amount of winter rain will allow it to recover. The Tabias de Daimiel may eventually die a similar death. A monument to man's inability to manage even relatively abundant water resources. How do you tackle the problem?
First you must recognize that you have one. In Spain that's taking a long time. In the Tabias de Daimiel region, the country's government is trying to control water use by buying up farms and wells. Essentially nationalizing some aspects of local farming. Water has also been piped in from other parts of the country, but the last time Spain's authorities tried this only 5% of the water actually reached the park; the rest was lost largely for natural reasons along the way.
Environmentalists argue that piping water into the wetland is a mistake. It makes people think that they don't need to protect their own resources; instead, they just demand more piped water. They say the best solution would be to turn off the tap and ban irrigation. Local farming would go to ruin. A painful but perhaps necessary lesson about how things should not be done.
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