Andalusia seeks solutions to the drought: building infrastructure and water transfers is a bad idea

The drought hits Andalusiawith an increasingly closer scenario of emergency and impacts on the population due to the lack of water in one of the regions with the greatest overexploitation of water at the national level.

Front of droughtWWF criticizes the false solutions proposed by the Junta of Andalusia con new infrastructure or transferswhile maintaining a high demand for water for feed the irrigation ‘bubble’ and, on the other hand, does not put an end to water theft. In recent years, we have lived under extraordinary decrees to maintain the same model of overexploitation of water with the excuse that there is a lack of rain.

The truth is that The structural problems of lack of water in the basins of Andalusia must first be addressed by reducing excessive consumption, eliminating water theft and adapting to the uncertainty of climate change, and not always asking for more water for golf courses or industrial and intensive crops. Last year was the second warmest and sixth driest year since the series began in 1961, according to the AEMET. Likewise, the reservoirs of the Andalusian Mediterranean basins, Guadalete-Barbate, Guadalquivir and Guadiana, face this 2024 principle at 18%, 14%, 19% and 27% of their capacity, without the latter rains have been able to significantly alleviate the situation.

Andalusia seeks solutions to the drought

Although in the Guadalquivir or Guadiana basins the water dedicated to different users has been restricted at least during the last five campaigns, even so, more than 85%, on average, of the water used in these campaigns has been used for irrigation. , consuming an enormous amount of resources and conditioning the amount of water impounded and the ability of other users to react to the shortage.

On the contrary, The public administration maintains in this region that water scarcity due to the overexploitation of rivers, wetlands and aquifers is a structural problem.l, continues to promote policies to increase water demand, that necessarily require an increase in supply to be able to sustain themselves, despite the fact that the impact of climate change indicates that the available water resources are going to be smaller and more uncertain. For example, In the Tinto Odiel and Piedras basin, which is entirely managed by the Autonomous Community, the current hydrological plan includes a growth in the demand for water for irrigating crops of more than 50%. (from the current situation with more than 40,000 hectares and an irrigation demand of 178 hm3/year, it is intended to increase in 2027 to more than 74,000 hectares and a demand of 362.6 hm3/year), while in the short term it is estimated that The water available in the rivers of this basin will be reduced by at least 2%.

Building infrastructure and transfers is a serious mistake to alleviate the drought in Andalusia

Likewise, in the face of political requests for new infrastructure, we consider it irresponsible to convey the message to society that the problems of lack of water supply in the coming months will be resolved with a water supply that would take between 2 and 5 years to materialize (for example, with new dams, desalination plants and transfers).

Furthermore, these measures, if they are really useful, must be included in the framework of hydrological planning (as some already are) to assess their economic viability, their impact on ecosystems, but also in the different territories that assume their consequences. negative, and give time to pass all the necessary evaluations in the face of such a large public investment with such significant effects.

We cannot expect the rains to solve our problems of overexploitation of water, nor can we continue with urgent measures to solve a structural problem in our management and use of water. It is not only the droughtit is the overexploitation and theft of water that has destroyed our water reserves and led us to collective water suicide.