When the river does not naturally flow: a case study of unsustainable management in the Tagus River (Spain)

ABSTRACT

This article assesses the main problems facing the Spanish Tagus River basin, and the management that has caused (or allowed) them. It examines the economic, social, environmental and political-institutional dimensions of Tagus River management in terms of sustainable development. We find that the institutions responsible for designing and implementing water policy in the Tagus basin have been unsuccessful in balancing the three classic dimensions of sustainability, resulting in systematic and recurrent failure to comply with the European Water Framework Directive and the principles of sustainable development.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability
• political-institutional dimension
• Tagus River
• water management
• Water Framework Directive
• Spain

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the editors that have been involved in the revision process for their comments, patience and support and also would like to thank one anonymous reviewer for his/her detailed work and valuable comments, which substantially improved the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Not everything was negative. The hydrological plans promoted by the WFD have significantly increased our knowledge of water bodies (Willaarts et al., 2014) and have promoted the creation of networks of social movements (Hernández-Mora, 2016) to defend the rivers from principles closer to those of the New Water Culture (Martínez, 1997).

2. Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Waters of the Spanish-Portuguese Basins (http://www.cadc-albufeira.eu/es/). The historical evolution of Spanish–Portuguese relations on water, which led to the Albufeira Convention, is explained by Santafé (2003).

3. Rainfall and runoff data are from the average for the period 1980/81-2017/18 (MITECO, 2019b, tables 3.8 and 3.9).

4. Memorandum de entendimiento entre el MAGRAMA y las comunidades autónomas de la Región de Murcia y Comunidad Valenciana sobre las aguas excedentarias del trasvase Tajo-Segura, marzo de 2013 [Memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Autonomus Communities of Murcia Region and Valencian Community about surplus waters of the Tagus-Segura transfer, March 2013]. We will call this the Tagus Memorandum or just the Memorandum.

5. Water transfers for urban supply are less controversial due to the higher prices paid by urban users, smaller volumes of water transferred, and the priority given to urban supply in the Spanish water law.

6. These data were obtained by comparing Jarama River gauging station 3175 at Aranjuez (average 28.9 m³/s, n = 16, standard deviation = 12.3 m³/s) with Tagus River gauging station 3258 at the Embocador dam, also in Aranjuez (average 8.4 m³/s, n = 18, standard deviation = 1.7 m³/s), between 1984 and 2001, when there were data simultaneously for both stations (CEDEX, 2019).

7. However, it could not have done so in summer 2007, as the river downstream of Azután ran dry several times because there were almost 40 days with no discharge at all from the reservoir (Fernández, 2007; CEDEX, 2019).

8. The total water resources contribution (runoff) at the Azután dam has been estimated as the total accumulated Spanish Tagus runoff at Cedillo in the Bajo Tajo water subsystem (8222 hm³) minus the accumulated runoff at the Azután dam in the Tajo Izquierda water subsystem (3743 hm³) (CHT, 2015d, Figure 6, p. 15).

9. The reasons why the 1968 agreement entered into crisis and a new one was necessary are explained by Santafé (2003).

10. During hydrological year 2004/05, on 116 days (30% of the year) more water was discharged from La Bujeda reservoir to the Tagus-Segura water transfer than from Cedillo reservoir to Portugal (CEDEX, 2019).

11. The data for Aranjuez are from Tagus River gauging station 3011 (before 1981/82) and Tagus River gauging station 3258 at Embocador dam (from 1981/82). The Toledo data are from Tagus River gauging station 3904 at Toledo. The Talavera data are from Tagus River gauging station 3015 at Talavera (CEDEX, 2019).

12. The global water deficit in the Segura basin is the official water deficit plus the average inter-basin transfers, Tajo-Segura and Negratín-Almanzora (CHS, 2013).