Protest against the reduction of the Tajo-Segura transfer last Tuesday in Alicante.JOAQUÍN DE HARO
The war for water between the different Spanish autonomies, which has never been closed, intensifies as measures are adopted, distributions are modified and the natural resource is increasingly scarce.
The president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page (PSOE), has suggested this Wednesday to his counterparts from the Valencian Community, the also socialist Ximo Puig, and from the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras (PP), a visit organized to Israel, a leading country in terms of technology to make the most of every drop of water, to learn about the techniques used there.
In this way he responded to last Tuesday's concentration in Alicante,
On May 3, the Water Council of the Tajo Hydrographic Confederation gave the green light to the new plan for the river, which will involve progressively increasing its ecological flow at its head until 2027. In Aranjuez, in the surroundings of the Entrepeñas reservoirs, Buendía and Bolarque will go from the current six cubic meters to the second to 8.6 in Aranjuez, which will mean a reduction in the transfer of water to the Segura of more than one hundred cubic hectometres per year.
Now, the National Water Council must ratify the proposal defended by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and, later, it must be approved by the Council of Ministers before its publication in the BOE.
Thereafter, the decision can be appealed in court.
García-Page took advantage of the inauguration of the facilities of a drip irrigation systems firm to enter into the subject.
“I would like to be able to organize a visit to your facilities in Israel.
I am willing to invite presidents of neighboring communities that have water problems to see a state-of-the-art facility.
Without a doubt, Israeli technology is decisive in the water, ”she said, according to Europa Press.
Israel is also known for its use of desalination plants to supply fresh water.
"I'm going to try to hook whoever misuses [sic] the water to this visit," she added.
The irrigators from the provinces of Alicante and Murcia brought together politicians and public officials from the respective regional parliaments and affected populations.
The Murcian president, Fernando López Miras, also attended, but not the Valencian, Ximo Puig, whose Government was represented by the Minister of Agriculture, Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition, Mireia Mollà, from Compromís, and the new Minister of Innovation, the socialist Josefina Well, in addition to the president of the Alicante Provincial Council, and leader of the Valencian PP, Carlos Mazón.
The Murcian president, Fernando López Miras, and the president of the Valencian PP, Carlos Mazón.Joaquín de Haro
About 1,200 people, accompanied by 18 tractors, participated in the protest called in front of the Government sub-delegation by the Central Union of Irrigators of the Tajo-Segura Aqueduct (Scrats) and the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (Asaja), escorted by mayors and senior positions of PP, PSOE, Compromís, Ciudadanos and Vox.
The cut to the Tajo-Segura transfer will eliminate any green vestige "in one of the most arid areas of Europe", historically known as "the pantry of the continent".
The organizers also charged against desalination, "which is not the alternative to river water," they maintain.
In the opinion of José Vicente Andreu, president of Asaja-Alicante, desalinated water is only "a complement" to the transfer, since it is "expensive and polluting".
“Farmers cannot afford the price” of this water, as long as they have to “compete with all the farmers in the world” who, he explains, export poorer quality goods to Spain and without the same restrictions on the use of fertilizers, for example.
Andreu also denounces the environmental arguments that motivate the proposed cut from the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
"The transfer is perfectly balanced," says the Asaja leader, a balance that he demands from the National Water Council "in all basin plans."
"We do not want water for everyone or water forever, we want water," explained the organizers in the final speech of the concentration, alluding to the messages that guide the hydrological proposals of PP and PSOE.
"We only ask for water because without it we cannot be Europe's pantry, nor a welcoming land for those who are forced to seek refuge here, nor a place of rest for the citizens" who choose the area's tourist attractions.
To do this, they demand "unity of the whole society".
The call brought the politicians together, but did not lower their differences.
Mollà insisted before the central Executive that "there is room for negotiation" for the maintenance of the Tagus-Segura and asks him to "listen" to the irrigators.
He argues that the Valencian Consell calls for "a fair demand, with technical support and with reason, so that the planning of ecological flows is reconsidered."
Otherwise, he advanced, "we will end up in court."
For his part, the autonomous leader of the PP called on the head of the Valencian Government "to defend the water that his land deserves" and to "confront his own party", to "make Pedro see reason Sanchez”.
The Minister of Agriculture, Mireia Mollà, in the concentration of Alicante.Joaquín de Haro
The Valencian president stated on Tuesday that “the only way is vindication and dialogue”, from the “argument consistency” that they have maintained in this area and from the “permanent capacity to defend the general interest” of the Valencians.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition has announced a plan of 500 million euros for investments to be made to modernize irrigation and improve desalination, purification, reuse and infrastructure in Alicante and Murcia.
Ministry sources point out that this gradual increase in flow, once the plan is definitively approved, from seven cubic hectometers to 8.6 in 2027, is done to give time to carry out the appropriate works in the receiving basins to compensate for the drop in the water that will reach them.
Right now in the Tagus, a minimum circulating flow of 6 cubic meters on average per year is established, with which the Executive's proposal increases the amount of water that must flow through the river.
The greater this flow, the less water can be diverted to transfer to Murcia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community.
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