Keys to the Tagus-Segura transfer. Why is it said that the water war returns?

2023-01-12T21:14:23.360Z

The inclusion of an ecological flow by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition is opposed by the Valencian Community, Murcia and Andalusia due to the cut in water for agriculture

The Tagus-Segura transfer is one of the most important civil engineering hydraulic works in Spain and a recurring cause of conflict between the territories where the water is collected (Castilla-La Mancha) and where it is received (Valencian Community, Murcia and Andalusia). .

Conceived at a time, at the beginning of the 20th century, in which the environmental precautions of today did not exist, in general, in these wars to divide the water, the one that has been least taken into account has been the river.

Although it is true that this infrastructure brings life and wealth to the southeast of the country, there are already five Supreme Court rulings calling for the setting of a minimum ecological flow to keep the Tagus in good condition.

Above all, given the predictions of climate change.

The central object of the debate is what should be the amount of water in this ecological flow.

This safeguard triggers the conflict again at a time close to the regional and municipal elections next May in a large part of the country.

When did this gigantic work begin?

The Tagus-Segura transfer came into operation in 1979. The 292-kilometre aqueduct connects the Tagus and Segura basins, crossing the Guadiana and Júcar basins, using the Alarcón reservoir as a transit element.

It transports the waters of the Tagus headwaters that have previously been regulated in the Entrepeñas and Buendía reservoirs.

Since its implementation, the water from the largest river in Spain has allowed the fields of Alicante, Murcia and Almería to be irrigated and the consolidation of a powerful agri-food sector, in addition to providing part of the urban supply.

What is ecological flow?

In the last 30 years, the contributions of water at the headwaters of the Tagus have been reduced by 40% and forecasts indicate that the situation will continue to worsen in the future due to climate change.

The Tagus basin is the only basin in Spain that does not have an ecological flow, a historical anomaly, points out the Ministry for Ecological Transition.

The ecological flow, whose maintenance is also required by European legislation, is the water that must be left in a river at least so that it can remain in good condition, it is what remains for nature and will not be used for irrigation, nor to supply populations, nor for other industrial or other types of uses.

The ministry, directed by the socialist Teresa Ribera, approved in June of last year the germ of the future royal decree that the Government has to approve.

The proposal sets for the first time an ecological flow in the Tagus basin, which will reduce the amount of water that can be transferred.

The new hydrological planning establishes a flow of 7 cubic meters per second in Aranjuez from the approval of the basin plan until 2026. In January of that year it will rise to 8 cubic meters and in 2027, to 8.6.

Urban consumption is not compromised.

Currently, there is a minimum circulating flow of 6 cubic meters on average per year.

The higher this flow, the less water can be diverted to the Valencian Community (presided over by the PSPV-PSOE, in coalition with Compromís and Unides Podem), Murcia (governed by the PP) and Andalusia (PP).

What have the courts said?

The Government of Castilla-La Mancha (presided over by the Socialists) and various environmental and citizen organizations in defense of the river, expressed their satisfaction with the fixing of the ecological flow.

The Ministry for Ecological Transition emphasizes that the five Supreme Court rulings in which the Executive was urged to abide by European legislation and to set these minimum water levels to maintain good environmental quality must be complied with.

Why is it said that the water war returns?

As soon as the proposal was announced, the farmers' and irrigators' associations of the three affected communities, as well as their autonomous governments, showed their rejection of the cut, which will mean a loss of 15,000 direct jobs and 5,700 million euros, according to the estimates of the former.

According to the Central Union of Irrigators of the Tajo-Segura Aqueduct (SCRATS), the transfer generates more than 100,000 jobs, 71% of national exports of vegetables and 25% of fruit, and its agri-food industry contributes 3,000 million euros to GDP national.

Is it not possible to resort to desalination or other alternatives?

Minister Teresa Ribera announces an investment plan of 1,600 million euros to guarantee water in the Segura basin, after the implementation of ecological flows.

Among the actions in the ceding basin are the improvement of the water quality in the Jarama (Madrid discharges a large part of its untreated water into the Tagus), and the modernization of traditional irrigation systems in the section between Buendía-Entrepeñas and Aranjuez.

In the receiving basin, the actions are focused on expanding the desalination capacity, increasing the capacity of the Valdelentisco, Águilas and Torrevieja desalination plants, up to a volume of an additional 70 hm³.

Desalinated water is subsidized at 32 cents per cubic meter, although the irrigators point out that once VAT is added, the toll for transportation and inflation rises to 45 cents.

The water from the transfer is much cheaper: it costs about 13 cents, according to the irrigation union.

What happened at the Water Council on November 29?

With this background, on November 29 the National Water Council was held, a consultation and participation body on hydrological planning at the state level under the ministry.

There, the project of royal decree of the hydrological plans of the Spanish river basin for the period 2022-2027, which includes the Tajo-Segura transfer, was endorsed.

The Valencian Government assures that in that council the inclusion of the ninth additional provision was agreed, by virtue of which the state of the basin will be evaluated as of 2025 and, depending on its water situation, "it will be raised or not" the planned ecological reserve.

In this way, the possibility of maintaining the transfer depending on the masses of water was opened.

The need to set an ecological flow is assumed, but conditioned by circumstances.

The Generalitat saw a reasonable way out of this provision which, however, was not finally adopted in the final document of the ministry.

The governments of Murcia and Andalusia also maintain that they did not vote exactly what was finally determined, which can generate legal uncertainty, according to Junta sources.

The ministry would have bowed at the last moment to pressure from Emiliano García-Page, president of Castilla-La Mancha, add sources present at the council.

Teresa Ribera has denied a change of criteria in the ministry.

“Some communities and users raised in said meeting a proposal to introduce an additional provision.

This proposal was rejected and aroused multiple criticisms by the National Water Council at that same meeting," they point out from the ministry.

¿What will happen now?

The Government raised the agreement reached at the meeting of the National Water Council on November 29 to the Council of State for it to issue a favorable or unfavorable report.

The autonomous governments of the Valencian Community, Murcia and Andalusia have presented allegations and have asked the Council to rule unfavorably, in addition to requesting a hearing.

They argue processing and rigor defects, unilateral changes and lack of economic impact assessment.

The three communities, two governed by the PP and another by the PSOE, have agreed on their approaches.

Castilla-La Mancha emphasizes in its allegations that "the implementation of a regime of ecological flows" is not only a regulatory obligation, but "a determination imposed by several sentences".

The highest advisory body of the Government of Spain will meet on January 19 to deliberate and issue a favorable or unfavorable report for its subsequent transfer to the Government.

This intends to approve in an upcoming council of ministers the decree that reviews the hydrological planning of 12 demarcations for the period 2022-2027 and that includes the modification of the ecological flows of the Tajo-Segura transfer.

The opinion is expected to be sent to the Government on January 20.