There are serious water shortages in Spain. Water, like other natural resources, tends to be unrelated to political boundaries. Authority over Spain’s water – formally a shared competence – has shifted from the centre to the Autonomous Communities, the equivalent of states or provinces, and to municipal authorities in a number of cases. But the system has come under acute stress in the last decade because of severe water shortages.
“The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain,” or so the song goes. Well, not anymore. Spain is one of the countries most deeply affected by climate change. Vast areas in the Communities of Murcia, Andalucía and Valencia are slowly but surely becoming desert. There are several reasons for this.
The first, which is quite obvious, is climate change. The average temperature in Spain has increased 2.7 degrees Celsius since 1880, compared with the 1.4 degrees globally recorded for that period. Other estimates include a projection published by the United Nations suggesting that rainfall will fall about 40 per cent by 2070.Another reason for the growing scarcity of water is the irresponsible use of resources in Spain, including the use of more than 80 per cent of water resources for farming. Irrigation-based farming produces higher yields and is very profitable for farmers (who pay discounted rates for water), so it is very widely practiced.
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