The government’s plan to redistribute water in the regions of Almería, Alicante and Murcia, where farmers have been struggling to irrigate their crops in the past year, has pushed stakeholders to protest in Madrid on Wednesday.
In front of the Ecological Transition Ministry, in Madrid’s city centre, the group of farmers, trade unions, political figures from every side, and citizen organisations protested against the left-wing executive’s decision to increase the “ecological flow” of the river Tagus, which will lead, they said, to a reduction of the water flow transfer to the river Segura.
The government’s decision will greatly impact the economy of these regions, based mainly on agriculture and the hotel, restaurants and cafes (HORECA) industry, protesters warned.
Lucas Jiménez, president of the Central Union of Irrigators of the Tagus-Segura Aqueduct (Scrats), and organiser of the protest, fiercely criticised the Government’s move.
“We demand, as civil society and as farmers, that the minister stops her unjustified and political attacks on the (local water) infrastructures (among other, aqueducts)”, Lucas Jiménez, president of the Central Union of Irrigators of the Tagus-Segura Aqueduct (Scrats), that organised the protest, has said.
They are “a fundamental water resource for the economic activity of agriculture”, he added.
According to Scrats’ forecasts, the estimated reduction in the flow of the Tajo-Segura water transfer in the provinces of Alicante, Murcia and Almeria is 105 hm3, which would mean 78 hm3 less for irrigation than the current average and 27 hm3 less for water supply.
Cutting the volume of water available would mean the “loss of 27,314 hectares of irrigable area, the disappearance of more than 15,000 jobs and reductions in the value of assets estimated at €5,692 million”, according to their calculations.
Spain is one of the most exposed EU countries to climate change, with a tangible reduction in water availability among other negative effects, experts have warned.
The establishment of an “ecological flow” for rivers is a key point anchored in the EU Water Framework Directive, which forms the basis of all member states’ laws on the matter.
This EU regulation acknowledges the importance of “ecological flows” and places them before any other protection measure by emphasising that “the purpose of this Directive is to establish a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater in order to prevent deterioration and to protect and improve the status of aquatic ecosystems”.
Hundreds of irrigators expressed their anger with the government about the measure, La Opinión de Murcia also reported.
Meanwhile, Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera defended her government’s decision on Tuesday, calling on all involved parties to avoid creating a new “battle for the water”.
The minister regretted that “a distortion of reality is being made in favour of one territory, with certain banners of certain political groups”.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
