Water in Spain: paradigm changes in water policy

Figures & data

Table 1. Water policy in Spain: stages and dates

Dates Item	Stage 1		Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4			Stage 5
	1865–1933		1933–1970	1970–1980	1980–2004			2004–2019
Paradigm	Regenerationism: “Water as a means of production”	Hydraulic mission (HM)	HM implementation			“New water culture” WFD; “Water is life”	Environmentally sustainable development	WFD + AWM Water environmental footprint; virtual water
			Initial sustainable development	Initial environmental approach	Sustainable environment
Action	Water Laws of 1866 and 1879	Waterworks plan, dams and canals	ATS initiated		Water Act and draft PHN (envisaging inter-basin transfers of 2850 hm^3)		PHN (envisaging inter-basin transfers of 1050 hm^3)	Desalination plants AGUA Programme
			Dams, canals and irrigation
Management	Water supply		Water supply and development	Water supply and demand		Water demand Environment	Water demand and efficiency Water savings
				Development
Challenges	Poverty illiteracy		Dramatic increase in water demand Surface and groundwater pollution				Climate change Cost recovery Regional governance Water management

ATS: Tagus-Segura water transfer; AGUA: Actions for Water Management and Use; WFD: Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000); AWM: Adaptive Water Management; PHN: Spain’s National Hydrological Plan; NGOs: non-governmental organizations.

Figure 1. Spanish and Portuguese river basin districts (RBDs). Light green areas indicate RBDs that are not transboundary. Pink areas indicate transboundary basins. Adapted from Arqued (2014)

Table 2. Water use (surface water plus groundwater) in various European countries

	France	Germany	Greece	Italy	Portugal	Spain
Population Tourists (per year)	67 059 887^q 89 322 000^r	83 132 800^q 38 881 000^r	10 716 322^q 30 123 000^r	60 297 396^q 61 567 200^r	10 269 417^q 16 186 000^r	46 659 000^k 82 800 000^k
Rainfall (mm/year)	867^c	700^c	652^c	832^c	854^c	636^c
Water resources (hm^3/year)	211 000^f	154 000^f	68 400^f	191 300^f	77 400^f	110 885^x
Actual evapotranspiration (mm/year)	475^y	451^y	417^y	517^y	473^y	454^l
Urban use (hm^3/year)	6000^a	5076^b	1290^d	9490^h	910^g	5100^m
Industrial use (hm^3/year)	3600^a	6016^b	330^e	3790^h	1500^o	1150^n
Agricultural use (hm^3/year)	4700^a	376^b	7920^d	11 600^i	8770^o	23 200^p
Industrial cooling (hm^3/year)	19 100^a	13 536^b	DNA	2200^j	DNA	4 900^z
Total water use (hm^3/year)	33 400	25 004	9540	27 080	11 180	34 350
Agricultural area (ha) Irrigated area (ha)	28 660 000^v 1 423 600 ^s	16 645 000^v 451 800^t	6 104 000^v 1 237 000^u	12 405 000^v 2 553 000^t	3 574 000^v 474 100^t	16 985 275^w 3 828 747^w

^aData from IFEN 2004 (OIA 2009). ^bData from 2013 (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety 2018). ^cPeriod 1972–2017 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^dData for 2011 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^eData for 2007 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^fData for 2017 (KNOEMA 2020b). ^gData for 2012 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^hData for 2015 (ISTAT 2019). ⁱData for 2010 (ISTAT 2019) .^jData for 2012 (ISTAT 2019). ^kINE (2019). ^lPeriod 1940/1941–2005/2006 (MITECO 2020a). ^mArqued (2014) (urban water use and connected industrial use). ⁿArqued (2014) (industrial use not connected to municipal network). ^oData for 1998 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^pArqued (2014). ^qData for 2019 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^rData for 2018 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^sData for 2013 (KNOEMA 2020a).^tData for 2016 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^uData for 2017 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^vData for 2018 (KNOEMA 2020a). ^wData for 2019 (MAPAMA 2019). ^xSee Table 3. ^yAuthors’ own elaboration from EUROSTAT (2020). ^zData for 2000 (Custodio 2015). DNA: Data not available; OIA: Oficina Internacional del Agua; ISTAT: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica; INE: Instituto Nacional de Estadística; MITECO: Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico; MAPAMA: Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente; EUROSTAT: European Statistical System.

Table 3. Water-cycle components in the Spanish river basin districts (period 1940/41–2011/12)

Spanish river basin districts	Surface area (km^2)	Rainfall (mm/year)	PET (mm/year^a)	ET (mm/year^b)	Total runoff (hm^3/year^c)	Groundwater resources (hm^3/year)	Dams (hm^3d)
Eastern Cantabrian	5806^e	1450^f	?	?	4458^f	1781^f	73
Western Cantabrian	17 433^e	1248^g	?	?	12 747^g	5314^g	518
Minho-Sil	17 582^e	1257	635^h	491	13 036	4030	3030
Galician Coast	12 991^e	1543	?	604	12 250	3144	684
Duero	78 889	612^g	792^g	431^g	14 231^g	4269^g	7507
Tagus	55 781	636	964	463	11 037	2224	11 056
Guadiana	55 527	524	986	434	5214	888	9261
Tinto, Odiel and Piedras	4762^e	612	1117	487	724	78	229
Guadalete and Barbate	5961^e	780	1110	428	1079	222	1651
Guadalquivir	57 184^e	582	1055	452	8260	2877	8113
Andalusian Mediterranean Basins	17 952^e	541	1073	374	3027	833	1174
Segura	19 025^e	385	993	341	909	593	1140
Júcar	42 735^e	501	890	405	3337	2756	2846
Ebro	85 660^e	641^g	786^g	458^g	16 448^g	3128^g	7642
Internal Basins of Catalonia	16 426^e	695 ^i	?	536 ^i	2613 ^i	1141^i	677
Balearic Islands	4986^e	492^j	?	?	613 ^k	492^k	12
Canary Islands ^l	7453^e	354	?	?	885	754	104
Ceuta	20^e	585^m	800^m	?	3^m	?	2.3
Melilla	24^e	351	800	240	13.8	7	0.4
Total/mean	506 197	667^n	894^n	454^n	110 885	34 524	55 720

Source: MITECO (2020b).

^aPET: potential evapotranspiration. ^bET: evapotranspiration. ^cTotal water volume in rivers (including base runoff). ^dReservoir capacity (https://www.embalses.net/cuencas.php). ^eContinental area plus transitional waters (coastal waters are excluded). ^fPeriod 1980/1981–2009/1910. ^gPeriod 1940/1941–2005/2006. ^hPeriod 1980/1981–2011/2012. ⁱPeriod 1940/1941–2008/2009. ^jPeriod 1985/1986–2006/2007. ^kApproximate figures due to the lack of data in some years of the period 1965/1966–2013/2014. ^lFigures summarize the results of the 7 Hydrological Plans 2015–2021 of the Canary Islands, in different periods between 1934/1935 and 2016/2017. ^mPeriod 2002/2003–2011/2012. ⁿPeriod 1940/1941–2005/2006 (MITECO 2020a).

Figure 2. Average water price (€/m³) in some European countries in 2015 (PwC 2018). PwC: Price Waterhouse Coopers

Figure 3. Water network loss by country (% gross consumption) in 2015 (PwC 2018). PwC: Price Waterhouse Coopers

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