Myths, Fallacies, Paradoxes, Mistakes and Virtual Water in the Mediterranean
Identificadores
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10481/89394Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemFecha
2023Resumen
The statement that everything remains the same in Mediterranean Europe in
matters of continental waters following the course of the last three decades
is untrue. In effect, following the drought of 1995 or perhaps coinciding
with it, social movements and a high proportion of scientists and even
numerous members of the administrations themselves have been highly
concerned about the question of continental waters. As a result of the many
books, articles in scientific journals and conferences, etc., the so-called New
Water Culture, demand management, water quality etc. today constitute
expressions highly disseminated amongst academics and managers to such
an extent that we either consider ourselves as fellow believers of these new
tendencies in water policy or, at least, few dare to publically state their
opposite to them. But, in reality, have the aforementioned changes and other
developments substantially affected the principles that inspire current
hydropolitics in Mediterranean Europe? Or, on the contrary, do “old
ghosts” reappear whenever there are periods of less rainfall? In this article
I shall analyse some aspects of the water situation in Mediterranean Europe
and, above all, of the correlative management models that have been
developed in recent decades.Highly used terms, expressions and concepts
such as throwing water into the sea, hydraulic works are in the general
interest, wet Europe and dry Europe, the water transfer will definitively
solve the problem, water deficit, water must be distributed fairly, everyone
has a right to water, water is a public asset etc. shall be reviewed from a
scientific approach. The concept of water scarcity is normally assumed by
people and the administrations that irrationally integrate it into public
policy without questioning it at all. I differentiate and discuss the concepts
of physical and economic scarcity, of the prices and effects these have on
the efficiency and equity of water management and usage. We briefly
analyse the problem of the pollution of continental water and that caused by
the dumping thereof in the Mediterranean Sea. We make a number of
general comments in regards to water transfers and provide a short
overview of three of the most controversial of these works in Spain: The
Ebro-Almería, Tajo-Segura and the Castril River Water Transfer. I present
a new line of research for the management of water, the virtual water
approach that produces and confirms the results I already previously
obtained through conventional procedures. In the last section I describe the
economic effects on agriculture and tourism that climate change is causing
in a number of Mediterranean regions. I state in advance that my
conclusion is The New Water Culture (NWC), from the South, demands the
prior recognition that the biggest statements on the scarcity of water are not
the result of climatic conditions, rather, they are due to the economic
development and social model followed, misgovernment by competent
institutions and, definitively, because the conflicts made evident between
different users have solely been resolved with arguments of political and,
ultimately, economic power.