Assessment of the Draft Hydrological Basin Plan of the Guadalquivir River Basin (Spain)

Abstract

This paper evaluates and discusses the draft Hydrological Basin Plan (HBP) for the Guadalquivir river basin and its related Programme of Measures (PoM). The HBP focuses on demand management using technical and economic measures, particularly through investment in water efficiency measures. In addition, it seeks to eliminate urban point source pollution. By 2015, a sustainable water resource demand is projected if the current area of irrigated land is not expanded and if the urban waste water treatment work is completed according to Directive 91/271/CEE. It is expected that costs of implementation will be high. The total investment of the PoM is estimated to be €978 per capita per year; this investment has an annual equivalent cost of €143 per capita per year. However, it is estimated that 67% of the total investment can be recovered with special impact in increase in the cost of irrigation water by 160% and the cost of urban water by 60%. Finally, this paper ends with a discussion on the most critical points likely to hinder the HBP being used effectively as a tool for sustainable water management.

Acknowledgements

We want to thank the anonymous referees, Agustín Arguelles from Confederación Hidrográfica del Guadalquivir for their valuable comments. We also acknowledge the technical support from Pilar Reina and English editing by Bex Holmes, from the James Hutton Institute. This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science project 2009-12496-C01-01(AGUA-ICAD).