Maroc - EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 27/12/2024 00:27

Spain’s Stressful Water Problem – Analysis

By William Chislett The flash flooding that hit the region of Valencia last month, killing 239 people, would seem to suggest Spain does not have a problem of lack of water. In some places, more rain fell in a day than in a whole year. That natural disaster, one of the worst in the country’s modern history, however, was one of extreme weather, known as a ‘DANA’ (depresión aislada en niveles altos), and not representative of Spain as a whole. DANA weather systems are formed when an area of low pressure gets ‘cut off’ from the main flow of the jet stream. As a result, instead of moving through a region relatively quickly, they get blocked over the same area producing persistent rainfall for days. In stark contrast, other parts of Spain have recently suffered prolonged bouts of drought (in November 2023 nine million people, one fifth of the population, faced water restrictions). Both the tragedy in Valencia and persistent droughts have brought home the rising threat of climate change for which Spain, like so many other countries, is unprepared. Last month was the hottest November in Spain since records began more than 60 years ago, according to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet). The average temperature was three degrees higher at 12.4ºC, and, despite the torrential rain from the DANA, Spain’s total rainfall was 40% lower than normal for November. As climate change intensifies, Spain’s water management faces significant challenges, and this in a country which has a wealth of tradition and culture in relation to the careful use and exploitation of water; Romans, Arabs and other civilisations that settled in the Iberian Peninsula were more mindful than we tend to be today of the need not to waste water. The Alhambra and Generalife in Granada, the Aqueduct in Segovia and the Water Court in Valencia, the oldest existing institution of justice in Europe, bear testimony to this. Water management suffers, as do so many other issues, from political polarisation and the lack of cooperation and coordination between Spain’s four levels of government (central, regional, provincial and municipal). The authorities’ initial response to Valencia’s deadly floods was woefully inadequate. The civil protection agency (Agencia Valenciana de Seguridad y Respuesta a las Emergencias or AVSRE), which is overseen by the Popular Party-led regional government of Valencia, only sent out a text message warning residents hours after the first floods were reported. Help from the Socialist-led central government, which said it was up to the regional government to ask for what it needed, was slow to come in the first days. While an army of volunteers stepped into the gap, political opponents wasted no time in starting a blame game. The water problem is well known and has been endlessly diagnosed, particularly in a 600-page long White Paper published in 2004, but little has been done, particularly executing planned hydraulic works, many of which have either not been started or are going way behind schedule. A project to channel Valencia’s Poyo ravine, which caused some of the worst flooding, was designed in 2006 and given priority in 2009 by the Hydrographic Confederation (Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar) but was shelved by successive governments. A report, published last month by the environmental consultant OIKOS, sounds alarm bells on Spain’s ‘increasing water stress’, which at 43% is well above Germany’s 34% and Italy’s 30%, but far lower than Israel’s dramatic 110% (see Figure 1). Figure 1. Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources, taking into account water’s environmental needs (Indicator 6.4.2.) (1) Country%Israel110India66Mexico45Spain43China42Germany34Italy30United States28France23(1) https://www.unwater.org/our-work/integrated-monitoring-initiative-sdg-6/indicator-642-level-water-stress-freshwater#:~:text=Indicator%206.4.-,2%20%E2%80%9CLevel%20of%20water%20stress%3A%20freshwater%20withdrawal%20as%20a%20proportion,monitor%20progress%20towards%20the%20target. Source: The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). Agriculture is a huge and inefficient user of water, consuming 65%, while only generating 14% of the value of EU agriculture. Drip irrigation, which is more economical and efficient, as it falls drop by drop on the roots of plants, thereby reducing consumption and loss of water, is underutilised (see Figure 2). Figure 2. Key water facts in Spain Agriculture consumes 65% of water…Drip irrigation provides 55% of water for irrigation…0.4% rate of renewal of water infrastructure…€2/m3 average urban tariff….… but only generates 14% of the value of EU agriculture, excluding wine… compared with 75% in Israel… compared with an EU average of 1%… compared with €3/m3 average urban tariff in the EUBetween 50% and 85% water cost recovery…25% water loss in Spain on average…98% of urban water is treated…