The Secretary of State for the Environment warns that the situation of water deficit in Spain is “the most serious in the last 15 years”
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, was hopeful this Sunday that the recovery and restoration of the Mar Menor is possible: “It begins to be better in minute one from which illegal agriculture begins to be withdrawn.”
However, he admits that there are two bodies of water that have suffered a “colossal volume of waste” and this will take the longest to regenerate. Now, he points out that the two masses of water must be allowed to interact and he trusts that the action plan will work if the aggression process is stopped. “I have certain hope and scientists confirm that its regeneration capacity is very high, but we have to help it,” he clarifies.
In this aid process, he indicated that the tap has been “cut off” to some 5,000 hectares and that at the end of the year up to 8,600 hectares will be closed. Regarding the farms that use this water, he warned that they will have to implement sheets of good practices because “those that do not comply will be left without a concession.”
The “most serious water deficit in the last 15 years”
In addition, Morán warned that the situation of water deficit in Spain is “the most serious in the last 15 years”, especially in the Guadiana and Guadalquivir, but at this time it seems that the supply of water for urban consumption is “guaranteed” .
He also admitted that the situation is “complicated”, so that the hydrographic confederations have begun to restrict water for irrigation to “prevent situations of resource scarcity” after the low rainfall of the last two hydrological years. “If the next hydrological year does not return to normal, the situation will only get worse, so the containment and restriction measures will grow,” warned the Secretary of State.
However, he sees “complicated” applying measures since there is a “kind of fiction” that leads one to think that the situation can be resolved with more reservoirs and transfers” due to “a false image” that Spain has water but it is poorly distributed. “It isn’t true. No basin is free from stress. Having more reservoirs would serve to have more empty reservoirs and resort to more transfers. You cannot transfer water from where there is none to where there is less”, he added.
In the future, he predicts that water stress will continue to grow and that in the next 15 years Spain will reduce its water resources by 25 to 40%, which forces it to “make planning decisions differently” and reduce demand .
For this reason, it justifies that the hydrological planning that will be approved before the end of the year “for the first time in history” reduces the volume of endowments between 1,300 and 1,400 cubic hectometres, which will force the implementation of management actions in saving and efficiency, for example, in the urban water cycle that has “a big problem” of resource loss in networks that are “aged”.
Pay the “real price” of water
In this sense, he defended that the PERTE of the digitalization of water, which will allocate 3,000 million investment to the urban, agricultural and industrial cycle, will be one of the “most important” measures to achieve a “robust” water system. At the same time, he warned citizens that they will have to pay “a real price for the water they consume” so that they are “aware” of the value and price of the resource.
“We must try to make the value of the resource understood through the price,” explains Morán, who indicates that this does not necessarily mean an increase in the bill but a relative increase, given that he affirms that currently citizens pay the price of water they consume, but not the price of the one they lose. “Responsible consumption must be implemented, which in many cases does not occur,” he pointed out.
Likewise, the Secretary of State described as “major error” generating expectations in irrigation volumes that are “doomed to failure” because they are built on false assumptions “with electoral interests.” In his opinion, drawing a scenario of “unlimited” availability generates a “bubble doomed to burst just around the corner.”
Waste
Another of the areas of the Secretary of State is waste policy. In this sense, Hugo Morán analyzed the process of more than two years to prepare and approve the new Law on waste and contaminated soil for a circular economy “with a more than reasonable consensus that allows stability and certainty.” In this regard, he believes that the norm supposes a “cultural change” in the way of consuming.
Thus, he indicated that at this time the Government is “focused” on the regulatory deployment of the packaging regulation, which is “very advanced” and “practically completed.” In fact, he calculates that the text, which is now under the analysis of the European Commission -which will determine if Spain has transposed the community directive well- could be definitively approved between September and the end of October.
Finally, with a view to the next OCU Climate Change Summit (COP27), which will be held in November in Egypt, he trusts that the geopolitical problems can be solved and that, although faced with the option of energy collapse, they have had to adopt conjunctural measures hopes that the climate roadmap will not be modified. To do this, he warns: “It will be necessary to adopt a greater ambition in the medium and long term.”
#Morán #assures #Mar #Menor #begins #improve #illegal #agriculture #begins #withdrawn