- A Spanish Water Scenario (new)
Gaspar Mairal1
Abstract
The new global models for integrated and environmentally sustainable water management, such as the E.U. Water Framework Directive, are generally designed to support local, regional or national political interests. Wherever water is scarce, as in the Mediterranean basin, it lies at the center of political struggles. In this respect, water is closely related to the practice of democracy, as I will illustrate through the example of Spain.
Keywords: Water scenario, water policy, water scarcity, Spain
Most international institutions and agencies, environmental organizations and many governments develop water policies on the basis of scientific and technical models, which draw on two principal vectors: development and environmentalism. Historically, water policies were driven by a desire for development, with the implementation of large-scale hydroelectric and irrigation projects, the diversion of rivers and the construction of dams in many countries. This was also the case in Spain. However, from the 1980s onwards, social movements, political parties, scholars and experts, developed new ideas and started critizicing the "Política Hidraúlica", specifically pointing to the far-reaching social and environmental impact of these mega-projects. This social movement became more influential after the Spanish government issued its National Hydrological Plan in 2001, which triggered a broad-based and powerful opposition throughout Spanish society. The plan included a 1,000,000 cubic metres/year water transfer from the Ebro River to the Mediterranean coast, a highly controversial plan that sharply divided political parties and public opinion. The new Socialist government arrived to power in 2004 and they immediately cancelled this National Hydrological Plan.2 During the period between 2000 and 2004, water policy had become a central issue in Spanish politics. These events clearly demonstrated that the traditional model of the Política Hidráulica, which had inspired the water transfer and other large-scale water projects, was no longer viable in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Instead, new global water management models emerged, which brought environmentalism into the mainstream. According to this model, water management should be considered in the broader context of the environment and conservation. Water use for social and economic development had to conform to these environmental requirements. Today many countries have integrated these concepts into their water legislation, but it remains to be seen whether water uses and policican really are environmentally sensitive. I explore this question using the case of Spain.
In Europe the most relevant of the environmentally sensitive water management model was the EU Water Framework Directive issued in 2000. The main goal of this directive was to achieve a "good ecological status" for all European surface waters by 2015 and to establish a common European policy. One of the core concepts developed in the directive is the "good status of water"3. In Spain, social movements and academics who had opposed to the traditional Política Hidráulica welcomed the directive, as they had always defended the environmentalist principles contained in it. At the other end of the spectrum, certain political parties, hydroelectric companies, farmers' unions and even some regions, which supported traditional Spanish water policy based almost exclusively on large-scale engineering works, had to accept this new directive and adapt to it.
Water Scenarios
While previous development models were articulated around the centrality of water, the EU Water Framework Directive and other integrated water management models currently in use are based on the concept of contextualization. This new perspective marks a fundamental change in the current definition of water policies. The centrality meant that the productive uses of water determined the priorities of this development model, which incorporated not only water but public works, investments, profits, laws and institutions, as well as ideologies, culture and even myths.4 All sectors had to be organized around the exploitation of water (irrigation, hydroelectricity, navigation, drinking water etc.) in order to create new benefits for society. This enormous challenge was founded on an ideological and cultural proclamation related to concepts such as the redemption of deserts (Spain, Egypt, Libya), the colonization of a promised land (USA, Israel) or the creation of the new man in a socialist society (USSR). By contrast, the environmentalist principle incorporates a holistic view, recognizing that water cannot be separated from its ecological context. It is based on ideas of conservation, restoration, cost recovery and good status. The transition from the development model to the environmental model defines today's Spanish water policy in a sometimes paradoxical manner. This transition defines what I call a "water scenario".
To explore the concept of the scenario further, I will draw on my ethnographical experience in researching water issues. The practice of fieldwork shows that what is described in many reports, conferences, discourses, theoretical propositions and institutional documents does not always match events in the field. In Spain, the most recent environmental, integrated water policy model is rarely implemented, even though it is recognized and accepted by all parties and stakeholders. Instead, the main ideas of the "Política Hidráulica" are still deeply rooted in some parts of Spanish society. This could be interpreted as a common situation in which the old resists the arrival of the new. In fact, this kind of interpretation has often been used to explain historical changes that have transformed many societies and it is specially significant from the point of view of Marxist theory. We are also reminded of the old saying: "Everything must change so that everything can stay the same." Without rejecting these interpretations, I will argue that the current integrated water policy models are not as factual or scientific as they pretend to be. They exist much more "on paper" and could, in future, become an excuse for new bureaucratic apparatuses.
The question, then, is what is actually happening? The use of a "water scenario" strategy must take us to a particular place and recognize what happens there. A "scenario" is a comprehensive and holistic methodology which does not depend on a previous, closed and imperative model to define the real but instead engages in a cultural analysis to understand what is happening. Social anthropology is a suitable discipline to apply to the study of water issues because its main goal is the study and understanding of human diversity. A "scenario" is a space and time in which different parties interrelate in terms of their similarities and differences around a relevant subject matter. Water is one of those relevant subject matters. Since a cultural analysis is especially capable of identifying and comparing any discursive construction, and considering that water policies have to confront a very antagonistic world of ideas, traditions, interests, visions of the future and narratives, its application to a "scenario" can provide good insights for understanding how water is managed and which water policies are being implemented in each case.
The Spanish water scenario
My description of a Spanish water scenario will present ten key points, which show how many interrelated aspects come together to form a water scenario. This complexity demands a strong interdisciplinary approach, which the E.U. Water Directive unfortunately does not have. Its basic conception is biological or even "biologistic" and tends to ignore social science perspectives. The directive's notion of the environment is almost exclusively biological, which impoverishes its conception of a water policy.
Water imbalance and transfers
According to the "Política Hidráulica" models some basins have water surpluses, which flow into and are "lost" in the sea, while others experience shortages. Hydraulic planning should seek to correct these imbalances. The only way to achieve a good balance is by transferring water from surplus basins to water-scarce ones. In 1990's these arguments were used to justify the construction of inter basin transfer infrastructures, and this argument became central to water policy discussions in Spain at the turn of the twenty-first century, generating intense social and political conflict. Criticism of this principle has been a central argument for all people opposing water transfers and there is an ongoing discussion about the methodological value of concepts such as water surplus and deficit and the data used to calculate them. The Tagus-Segura diversion, constructed in the 1970s, is the most important water transfer system now operating in Spain.
Irrigation
An estimated 80% of Spain's available water is used in the agricultural sector. There is an ongoing debate about the agricultural quality of a relevant proportion of these irrigated lands and their economic viability, given that they receive significant government and EU subsidies. On the other hand, farmers have invested considerably in irrigation modernization, abandoning traditional flood irrigation methods in favour of water-saving sprinkler and drip techniques.
Desalination
Spain has about 900 desalination plants, mostly on the Mediterranean coast, with a total daily capacity of 1.5 million cubic metres. After the cancellation of the Ebro River water transfer project to the Mediterranean coast in 2004, Spain's new socialist government supported the AGUA plan to build 51 desalination plants to replace the 1,000,000 cubic meters per year that the Ebro water transfer would have provided. Spain's arid Mediterranean coastal region has a large population, a highly developed tourism industry and a thriving agricultural sector that focuses on the large-scale production of fruit and vegetables under intensive irrigation. The AGUA plan has been a failure due to the high cost of desalinated water, which makes it unaffordable for use in the agricultural sector. Today there are just 17 plants operating which produce less than 100,000 cubic metres per year. Desalination remains controversial due to its cost, environmental impact and high energy consumption. In addition, some critics argue that desalination merely offers another supply side solution, whereas answers should instead be sought in the improved management of demand. This argument points out that Spanish water policy has historically always focused more on supply than demand management and that this is the fundamental approach that needs to be modified.
Water pricing and markets
There is an ongoing debate about pricing as a way of encouraging water saving, and also about the introduction of cost recovery for the new hydraulic infrastructures following the prescriptions of the 2000 EU Water Framework Directive. Surface water is a public good in Spain, which can only be used for profit by societies, companies, communities or individuals by means of administrative concessions and for a declared use. The last reform of the 1984 Water Act permitted the sale of water if its final application was not going to change the approved use of the original concession. There are some who favour a total liberalization of water and the extension of water markets as a way of rationalizing its use and preventing waste. This is, of course, a very controversial opinion. A revision of concessions and the reform of the concessionary system have been proposed, but this is bound to be highly controversial in its application.
Water conflicts
In the last 30 years Spain has decentralized its political structure and the Autonomous Communities have gained competency in water policy making. This process has however triggered a confrontation between the inland and coastal communities over future and current water transfers. For example, while the Community of Castilla-La Mancha demands an end to the Tagus River water transfer, the Mediterranean regions remain firmly opposed to such a move.
Public participation and contestation
A number of social movements that have sprung up in the last 30 years offered resistance to the plans of the Spanish water sector and several consecutive governments. These social movements were created by local populations affected by new dam schemes and also by scholars and experts, most of them from the academic world, who have encouraged protest and opposition to a number of new hydraulic projects (dams and water transfers). While the importance of public participation in water management has finally been recognized, more needs to be done to really take public opinion into account in the formulation of new policies. The new approach to water management that is advocated by local communities and academics is now termed the "New Water Culture" and has become increasingly influential.
Reform of the water administration
Spain was one of the first countries to introduce basin management with the creation in 1926 of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro (Ebro River Water Authority), which acquired complete control of water management in the Ebro River basin. However, nearly a century later, these management units (Confederaciones Hidrográficas), which were traditionally controlled by hydraulic engineers, are in need of substantial change. While they have to date mainly acted as promoters of public works such as dams, canals and pipelines, they should now focus on the implementation of a more integrated and interdisciplinary water management policy.
Drought
Drought is a structural part of Spain's mainly Mediterranean climate. But while it is a regular occurrence, it remains difficult to implement a water policy that integrates a drought preparedness strategy. Instead, periodic droughts have become part of a political struggle and are used to gain votes with the promise of immediate and quick fixes such as pipelines or water transfers, which are very expensive and often useless when the drought ends.
Partisanship
In the last two decades water issues have been used so intensely for political purposes that the positions of the main political parties, often very emotional and influenced by localism and nationalism, seem irreconcilable. However water policy is so important for Spain that its basic foundations should be outside the domain of everyday political confrontation and considered as a bi-party issue. Unfortunately we are far from such an arrangement.
The 2000 European Union Water Framework Directive
The implementation of the EU Framework Directive has become a serious problem. The directive is based on an environmental conception of water and does not pay much attention to the concept of linking water and development. The ideas of conservation, recovery and good ecological status are some of its key points. Spain's water policy still focuses on demand and is still subject to great historical inertia.
From policy to politics
This brief overview shows how environment, economy, technology, society, politics and culture are closely related. But this relationship is complicated, as the many stakeholders with diverse and at times antagonistic interests interact around water. We need a better understanding of these antagonisms. Water management then becomes a cultural issue and its understanding demands local knowledge because the diversity of water experiences is not only determined by ethnic or regional diversity, but is also an example of water's cultural valuation by people. This culturalization of water is especially significant in those regions where water is scarce and becomes one of the axis of social and political dynamics.
Today integrated management is fast becoming the new model for water policies and is more or less defined in terms of:
The integrated water resources management approach helps to manage and develop water resources in a sustainable and balanced way, taking account of social, economic and environmental interests. It recognizes the many different and competing interest groups, the sectors that use and abuse water, and the needs of the environment.
If we understand integrated water resource management in these terms, we can appreciate that rather than a model, it is a methodology which takes us more into the realm of politics than policy. This is what happens when we move from the analysis of a water policy model designed as proposed by international organizations to a local, regional, and even national level where we find water scenarios. The Spanish water scenario is a mixture in which history, ideologies, political interests, regional cultures and identities, are taking a very significant role. The water policy models should generally consider these particular scenarios in order to make the water policies more "real".
Though Spain is also an Atlantic country, our water scenario is Mediterranean since it is mainly activated from its Mediterranean regions where water is scarce. In fact droughts are the impulse that periodically activate and intensify these water scenarios. Water becomes ideological, even mythical and the interests of all stakeholders compete with each other. The models of water policy are used in as much as they offer arguments for or against competing interpretations. The main objective is winning.
I cannot see how water policies in Mediterranean Europe can ever be simply technical problems to be solved by better science and technology though, of course, both are absolutely necessary. The roots of any water policy lie in politics and demand a democratic approach to water management.