The world water problems are a due to bad governance, not to physical water scarcity."


This book is inspired by this statement and explores whether it holds in a specific country, Spain, where climatic conditions – Spain is one of the most arid countries of the European Union - would fully justify saying that water problems are due to physical water scarcity. The metrification of water uses and their monetary value is a first important step in understanding how reallocation of water among users could help mitigating many of current water problems in Spain. However, water reallocation among users or from users to nature is far from simple. Initiatives portrayed as the solution to the water governance ‘jigsaw’ – e.g. water trade, improved water use efficiency, users collective action, public participation – are not free of difficulties and shortcomings. The book explores the growing need for maintaining Spain’s natural capital and the human component of water governance – people’s needs, wishes, (vested) interests, aspirations – that often determine the result of decisions and, sometimes, lead water management to a deadlock. This book takes a step forward in showing a more complex - and also closer to reality - picture of water governance in Spain.

Description"The world water problems are a due to bad governance, not to physical water scarcity."

This book is inspired by this statement and explores whether it holds in a specific country, Spain, where climatic conditions – Spain is one of the most arid countries of the European Union - would fully justify saying that water problems are due to physical water scarcity. The metrification of water uses and their monetary value is a first important step in understanding how reallocation of water among users could help mitigating many of current water problems in Spain. However, water reallocation among users or from users to nature is far from simple. Initiatives portrayed as the solution to the water governance ‘jigsaw’ – e.g. water trade, improved water use efficiency, users collective action, public participation – are not free of difficulties and shortcomings. The book explores the growing need for maintaining Spain’s natural capital and the human component of water governance – people’s needs, wishes, (vested) interests, aspirations – that often determine the result of decisions and, sometimes, lead water management to a deadlock. This book takes a step forward in showing a more complex - and also closer to reality - picture of water governance in Spain.

Contents
1 Introduction

PART 1: Political framework and institutions

2 The concept of water and food security in Spain

3 Water planning and management after the EU Water Framework Directive

4 Institutional reform in Spain to address water challenges

PART 2: Metrification of water uses

5 Towards an Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)

6 Overview of the extended water footprint in Spain: The importance of agricultural water consumption in the Spanish economy

7 An overview of groundwater resources in Spain

8 The extended water footprint of the Guadalquivir basin

9 The extended water footprint of the Guadiana river basin

10 Lessons learnt from analyses of the water footprint of tomatoes and olive oil in Spain.

PART 3: Looking at the environment and sector uses

11 Linking land management to water planning: Estimating the water consumption of Spanish forests

12 The challenges of agricultural diffuse pollution

13 Urban and industrial water use challenges

14 Challenges and opportunities related to the Spanish water-energy nexus

15 Considerations on climate variability and change in Spain

PART 4: Possible mechanisms and enabling conditions

16 Water trading in Spain

17 Public participation and transparency in water management

18 Taming the groundwater chaos the modernization of irrigation systems

PART 5: Case studies

20 Tablas de Daimiel National Park and groundwater conflicts

21 Intensively irrigated agriculture in the north-west of Doñana

22 The Canary Islands