Transboundary Water Resources in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

In the early 1990s central and southern areas in the Iberian Peninsula underwent a serious drought that catalysed water-related conflicts between Portugal and Spain and between some Spanish autonomous regions. Average annual renewable water availability in Spain is about 3,000 m³ per person; in Portugal about 6,000 m³. Nevertheless, because of the great variability of the natural hydrological cycle in Spain, the net natural water availability would be only from 300 to 500 m³ per person annually. In order to improve the availability of water, 1,000 reservoirs have been built in this century and almost one million water wells have been drilled. Engineering structures for interbasin water transfers have been built with a total capacity about 1.5 km³ per year; the most important is the Tagus-Segura aqueduct, designed to export up to 1 km³ per year. In reality, less than one-third of this volume has been transferred but it has induced frequent and bitter social and legal conflicts between the central government, autonomous governments, municipalities, conservation groups, farmers associations and others. In April 1993 the Spanish government asked the National Water Council to assess its proposal for a National Water Plan, which included several new water transfers. This proposal has triggered new water conflicts not only with Portugal, but also between autonomous regions and even between neighbouring towns. This chapter analyses the technical, ethical and aesthetic causes of these ‘water wars’, and argues that most water conflicts in the Iberian Peninsula can be solved without great difficulty if the general public was better informed and economic lobbies kept in their place.