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Water Markets in Spain: Meeting Twenty-First Century Challenges with Twentieth Century Regulations

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Water Markets for the 21st Century

Part of the book series: Global Issues in Water Policy ((GLOB,volume 11))

Abstract

Water scarcity is a growing reality in many Spanish basins which creates the need for more flexible and efficient market-based allocation instruments. This chapter critically analyzes water markets’ strengths and weaknesses, evaluates some recent trading experiences, and assesses some recent reforms in the Spanish water legislation. Formal and informal trading, and variants in between, have facilitated temporary and permanent water exchanges, with and without explicit support of public agencies. Based on our analyses and other literature findings, we propose a number of reforms that we consider necessary to upgrade water markets in Spain, including some innovations such as optioning rights, and quality-graded water exchanges.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This section borrows heavily from other authors’ work (Garrido et al. 2012a).

  2. 2.

    The Andalusian Mediterranean Basins are a series of basins on the southern Mediterranean coast of Spain that are completely within the boundaries of Andalusia and thus water management is the responsibility of the Regional Government of Andalusia. The Spanish Mediterranean basins include the Analusian Mediterranean Basins, the Segura basin, the Júcar basin, the Ebro basin and the Catalonian Internal basins (basins on the Mediterranean coast that are completely within the boundaries of Catalonia). The Andalusia region has other basins that are on the Atlantic coast including the Guadalquivir and Guadiana basins that empty into the Atlantic. The Guadalquivir basin includes territories in three regions different from Andalusia. More than 80 % of the Guadalquivir basin is in Andalusia and its climate is markedly Mediterranean but it is not included in the Mediterranean basin.

  3. 3.

    BOJA num. 155. Law 9/2010, July 30th. Andalusian Water Law.

  4. 4.

    This required four annual Royal Decrees that permitted inter-basin exchanges, using pre-existing infrastructures, on the basis of drought situations in the recipient basins (Segura, Júcar and Andalusian Mediterranean Basins).

  5. 5.

    The Tagus-Segura Transfer also serves users in the Andalusian Mediterranean Basins and the Jucar Basin.

  6. 6.

    A distinction has to be made between desalination of brackish waters and desalination of sea water. In some coastal areas of Southeast Spain, individual farmers (commonly larger ones) desalinize and use deep brackish water, about which hardly any reliable documentation can be found. Eventually, in drought periods, some of these volumes are sold in informal markets, mostly to smaller farmers that have shallower wells and no desalinization facilities. There are also water companies that sell desalinized/brackish water. We only know of one irrigation district desalinizing brackish water, as districts in Southeast areas more commonly rely on desalinized sea water, when available, of which some information exists about cost, contracts, and volumes used.

  7. 7.

    Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEIGRAM, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Senda del Rey 13, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Dolores Rey

  2. Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences, Research Centre for the Management of Agricultural and Environmental Risks, Centro de Estudios e Investigación para la Gestión de Riesgos Agrarios y Medioambientales, CEIGRAM, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E.T.S. Ingenieros Agrónomos, Avda. Complutense s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Alberto Garrido

  3. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII, 48, 30203, Cartagena, Spain

    Javier Calatrava

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  1. Dolores Rey
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  2. Alberto Garrido
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Correspondence to Javier Calatrava .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota Dept. Applied Economics, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

    K. William Easter

  2. Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA

    Qiuqiong Huang

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Rey, D., Garrido, A., Calatrava, J. (2014). Water Markets in Spain: Meeting Twenty-First Century Challenges with Twentieth Century Regulations. In: Easter, K., Huang, Q. (eds) Water Markets for the 21st Century. Global Issues in Water Policy, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9081-9_7

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