On November 27, 2023, one year ago, peace was signed in Doñana between the Junta of Andalusia and the Government of Spain, after the president’s attempt Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla (PP) to approve without consensus a law that, according to the conservation NGO WWF, represented an “amnesty” for illegal irrigation.
That affair raised alarm bells in Brussels —The EU Court has already sanctioned Spain for not taking care of the aquifer that supplies the national park—and caused tremendous controversy politically and in international environmental forums.
The measures agreed upon then have begun to be implemented with a clear commitment from the Government of zero tolerance for risks outside the plan, according to Public sources from the Doñana Technical Office: “One of the priorities is the establishment of legality in water matters throughout the Doñana area. Various measures are contemplated to provide the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation with the best inspection and control tools with a clear horizon: zero hectares of illegal irrigation.
Both the data managed by the Technical Office and that of WWF reveal that, although the irrigated surface without coverage of the strawberry plan decreasesthere are still numerous hectares that extract water without having the right to do so.
WWF estimates that last year they have been reduced by about 180 hectares, however, “before the start of strawberry planting in the new agricultural campaign, [la ONG] “reports that, at this time, in Doñana, 1,180.2 hectares continue to be irrigated outside the irrigable agricultural area, delimited by the Special Plan of the Forest Crown.” Of them, almost 80% are illegal red fruit crops“says the WWF. WWF calculations are made from satellite images and aerial orthophotographs.
“Results are being achieved. Currently, the number of wells with sealing in process amounts to 205, while 294 have already been sealed, of which 162 have been closed voluntarily and 132 have been sealed by the Confederation. In addition, there are 66 wells sealed as a precautionary measure and 18 wells whose closure has been suspended by judicial proceedings,” they assure Public sources from the Doñana Technical Office.
“The current area of illegal cultivation in Doñana is slightly lower than that of the previous year, when it amounted to 1,360 hectares, which shows that despite complaints from organizations such as WWF and the efforts of the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation, Seprona and the Prosecutor’s Office , the surface continues without descending significantly and, Since the approval of the Doñana Forest Crown Plan in 2014, it has never fallen below one thousand hectares“explains the NGO.
The aquifers
The situation of the aquifers, four years after their poor state was officially declared due to overexploitation, continues to be at its limit, as revealed by the latest report from the Guadalquivir Hydrological Confederation (CHG), to which it has had access. Publicwhich evaluates the state of the region’s waters every year: “The current degree and mode of exploitation of underground resources in areas of the aquifer compromises its good state and that of the dependent terrestrial ecosystems.
“[Esto] It is evident, he adds, that three of the five [masas de agua] members of the aquifer system do not reach good quantitative status”, which “forces hydraulic administration [es decir, a la propia CHG] to take a series of measures to ensure non-deterioration” and to “carry out all possible actions to reverse this bad state with a view to the horizon of 2027.”
“It is also urgent,” he adds, “that the competent authority measures are taken to maintain nitrate levels [la contaminación] within the levels set by the regulations”.
The report states that we are facing the “driest” period since 1970 and that the last “wet” year, with abundant rainfall, was 2010/2011. That is, almost three decades ago. “The 2023/24 hydrological year extends the dry period in the area for another year. From [2010/2011] There have been six normal years (2012/13, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2019/20 and 2023/24), six dry ones (2011/12, 2013/14 and 2014/15, 2018/19, 2020/21 and 2022/23) and a very dry one (2021/22), with an average of 435 millimeters.”
The precipitation of the hydrological year 2023/24, between October and September, was 473 millimeters. “This is a normal year, with 91% of the average, although very atypicalwith a very wet winter and the rest of the seasons very dry. In fact, There is a certain perception that it has been a wet year, when the truth is that the average is not even reachedwhich is reflected in low filling.
“The autumn was very dry, with 57% of the average precipitation, followed by a very wet winter with 182% of the average. Spring was very drywith 35% of the average, the same as summer, with 12% of the average”.
The work of the CHG also shows that since 2015, extractions have decreased by 10.5 cubic hectometers due to the purchase of the Los Mimbrales estate and the replacement by surface waters in the Arroyo de Don Gil area, which “have improved the situation in the areas where they have been applied, despite the dry cycle.”
“Immediate” and “large-scale” action
“The Doñana aquifer It is overexploited with an exploitation rate of 109%adds WWF, so we cannot wait another year for the agricultural campaigns to end to act,” considers Juan Carlos del Olmo, general secretary of WWF Spain.
These data have led WWF to demand that the Andalusian Government – in the area of the Tinto-Odiel-Piedras basin – and the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation “immediate and large-scale actionapplying precautionary measures such as the closure of wells and the sealing off of illegal hectares.
The Doñana Technical Office assures Public that, among other measures, these are already underway: “Among the tools is the implementation of the remote sensing based on artificial intelligence which will allow crop data to be available in real time (every 5 days) and the publication on the website of the crop area under plastic, legal and illegalwhich is expected to have a deterrent effect. On September 25, 2024, this tool was presented to users and administrations.”
“Another technological tool – the sources continue – that will allow efficiency in water uses and their monitoring are digitalization systems for irrigatorsaid to which three irrigation communities in the Doñana area have accessed with a value of 2.7 million euros.
On the other hand, adds the Office, “the formation of the Communities of Underground Water Users in Doñana (CUMAS), whose constitution process is in its final stretch and is expected to conclude at the end of this year or beginning of 2025, is going to facilitate the regulation of water uses among these irrigators. The constitution of these CUMAS is an essential procedure to develop the action program and establish the extraction plan, and its subsequent inspection.”
With these measures, the NGO believes, “it would be possible to prevent water is illegally stolen from the overexploited Doñana aquiferwhich four years after being declared at risk of not achieving good quantitative status, continues to decline.
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