“Hydrological planning in our country must change” and, furthermore, “it cannot depend so much on rain.” In a climate change scenario, “planning must be done from demand management and not from continued supply.”
The person who affirms this is Jorge Olcina, professor of Regional Geographic Analysis at the University of Alicante. This week he offered a conference in Toledo organized by the Cátedra del Tajo UCLM-Soliss.
After stating that “water belongs to the Earth, to the territory through which it passes,” he suggests adapting each territory to climate change. “I don’t think that transfers are the solution to the water problem in our country,” says this scientist who has participated in the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC). “What is going to happen with the transfer? Well, we’ll have to see, but I tell political managers that they have to have a plan B.”
Regarding the availability of water, he warns: “We cannot expect to have massive agrarian systems or massive urban consumption. Neither here, nor there,” he commented in reference to Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community, the Region of Murcia or Almería, recipients of the transfer water. In the case of the Castilian-La Mancha region through the so-called La Mancha pipeline.
Jorge Olcina was president of the Association of Spanish Geographers (AGE) and about water in general he says that “there are no longer static concepts either 70 or 40 years from now.” Not only will changes have to be made in agriculture and tourism and adapt them to the available water resources, but the use of “unconventional resources” will also be necessary. Like purified wastewater. “We have that cushion ahead,” he says, particularly for medium-sized cities. “They should be obliged to use one hundred percent of that purified water.”
Managers will have to start thinking about substitution or compensation policies in water matters
In Spain the way it rains has changed, especially in the Iberian Mountains where Atlantic storms are becoming less frequent and that not only reduces the contributions at the headwaters of the Tagus, but also “puts any agrarian or urban system in check.”
He maintains that “every five years, all water planning will have to be changed, including territorial planning, although the latter is more difficult,” taking into account, for example, that droughts are becoming “shorter and more intense” and that managers “will have to “We have to start thinking about replacement or compensation policies in water matters.”
The “ethical” concepts of water
During the talk he reviewed what he describes as “ethical concepts of water” because “when they are not respected, there are problems.” He referred to the “growing disputes” over the liquid element, while criticizing the “predatory way” of consuming this and other natural resources, when “the future is really uncertain.”
“We have to achieve water security, but this is a concept that has been politicized when in reality we are talking about a scientific-technical concept,” he lamented. And it is important because it means guaranteeing the supply of demands.
The professor asks to “avoid conflicts” between territories over water, although he recognizes that this will be “difficult” to achieve in our country, “now and in the coming years”, hence he makes an offer that involves ensuring that Science “presides” the process.
He also believes that water is still “very cheap” in some areas of Spain. It is a problem because “we do not give it value” and we are committed to developing rainwater collection systems for irrigation or street washing. “It is already done in Barcelona, Alicante or Murcia.”
In Spanish cities, an average of 15% of water is lost annually from urban networks. In some up to 30%. In this sense, it is forceful and demands sanctions, especially in cities that are tourist destinations. “We also don’t really know what agriculture consumes in Spain. There are no meters, with some exceptions”, although he recalled that the PERTE for digitalization of the water cycle, financed with European funds, will seek to solve it.
We are in the initial stages of climate change and it is a situation that is going to get worse. We cannot continue denying the obvious and I am not saying this from the political sphere but from Science. I work with data
During the conference he did not avoid the question of the consequences of the latest DANA. He believes that risk management policies will have to be addressed, from training to the entire population and also from “the position of rationality.”
“In Spain, intensive construction has been going on in flood-prone areas since the 1960s” and he recognizes that this is a “serious” problem, but also an “opportunity to do things well.” For example, reviewing all urban planning plans prior to 2010.
“We are in the initial stages of climate change and it is a situation that is going to get worse,” says the scientist. That is why he believes that “we must begin to prepare the territory for rain and drought.” It is a clear scenario for the coming decades, he assures, because “there are three or four countries that account for 75% of CO₂ emissions. “No one has complied with the Kyoto and Paris protocols and that has not been sanctioned.”
“There will be increasing warming, we are now in the initial stages,” he asserted, taking into account that a third of the CO₂ emitted into the atmosphere originates from human activity. “We have managed to alter the energy balance of the planet,” he lamented, despite reports that already in the 70s of the 20th century warned about drift. “They stayed in a drawer.”
He is clear about climate change denialist positions. “We cannot continue denying the obvious and I am not saying this from the political sphere but from Science. “I work with data.”
Temperatures have risen 0.8 degrees on average since pre-industrial times. Jorge Olcina referred to the fact that in the first 24 years of the 21st century “we have a not very active Sun, which is in a dormant state and, however, this is when temperatures on Earth have increased the most. There is a decoupling and to that we must add the action of man.”
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