Addressing aquifer overexploitation with desalinated seawater: an economic assessment of alternatives in south-eastern Spain

ABSTRACT

Spanish authorities have proposed providing external resources to substitute for non-renewable groundwater withdrawals in the south-eastern Murcia Plateau, which would require building new water infrastructure. This article assesses the supply costs and the economic impact of two alternatives, one based on supplying desalinated seawater and the other based on supplying water from the Tagus–Segura Transfer, with an innovative scheme to exchange it for desalinated seawater. It is found that farmers cannot afford the cost of either alternative. Authorities face the dilemma of either strongly subsidizing the external water supply, beyond what seems reasonable, or facing a disproportionate impact on the local economy.

KEYWORDS:

• Groundwater
• Segura basin
• desalination
• water transfers
• water exchanges
• water buybacks

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO, Spain), the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spain), and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU) under the MERCAGUA [grant number AGL2013-48080-C2-2-R] and RIDESOST projects [grant number AGL2017-85857-C2-2-R]. The funding institution had no involvement in the elaboration and diffusion of this research.