Leandro del Moral Ituarte

Constraints to Drought Contingency Planning in Spain: The Hydraulic Paradigm and the Case of Seville

Spain is equipped with an extensive hydraulic infrastructure, aimed at the correction of temporal and spatial irregularities in the availability of water resources. This structural network, mainly based on surface water, is the manifestation of the traditional hydraulic paradigm, which has technical, economic, socio-political and cultural ramifications. The traditional water management perspective tends to view drought as the structural deficit between water demand and water regulation capacity. This conceptualisation of drought led primarily to a structural response, while ignoring the need for drought risk assessment and water crisis management rules. The traditional hydraulic paradigm can, paradoxically, be regarded as one of the main constraints to the development of drought contingency planning and drought management. However, a new dynamism has entered the water policy arena, which encompasses elements of both innovation and persistence of the traditional perception. This dynamism is analysed through the Seville water management system, which is often affected by drought and severe water crises.

Interbasin Water Transfers in Spain: Interregional Conflicts and Governance Responses

Semiarid and drought-prone Spain has managed to meet ever-increasing water demands for more than 50 years through the construction of publicly funded hydraulic infrastructure. Interbasin water transfers are the most expensive and complex supply-side tool used. They are also the most controversial, often associated with such unintended consequences as deteriorating freshwater ecosystems, disappearing recreational opportunities provided by aquatic ecosystems, and the loss of development opportunities for downstream communities. This situation has become increasingly unstable over the past decade due to the scarcity of new supply augmentation alternatives, political changes involving European Union (EU) environmental legislation, new political power in upstream regions, and the appearance of new stakeholders at the decision-making table. As a result, competing demands over available resources and interregional conflicts are delaying water planning efforts, signaling the end of an era and demanding a shift from a competitive “using water” toward a “sharing water” risk and trade-off governance approach.

PERCEPCIONES DEL AGUA Y MODELOS DE SU GESTIÓN EN LAS DISTINTAS FASES DE LA CONFIGURACIÓN DE DOÑANA

Water perceptions and management patterns over the different stages of Donana’s conformation. This paper is based on a second reading of the approaches of the authors themselves to the spatial organisation of Donana from water issues point of view. This review has lead to the presentation of the different water perceptions that have been arising over the last few centuries in this region. Consequently, the article refers to the different water management patterns that each paradigm or cultural and social—vision framework has developed. Thus the primary conception that encompassed an adaptive approach to water, within the social and economic context of the Antiguo Regimen,

River basins as social-ecological systems: linking levels of societal and ecosystem water metabolism in a semiarid watershed

River basin modeling under complexity requires analytical frameworks capable of dealing with the multiple scales and dimensions of environmental problems as well as uncertainty in the evolution of social systems. Conceptual and methodological developments can now be framed using the wide socio-eco-hydrological approach. We add hierarchy theory into the mix to discuss the conceptualization of river basins as complex, holarchic social-ecological systems. We operationalize the social-ecological systems water metabolism framework in a semiarid watershed in Spain, and add the governance dimension that shapes human-environment reciprocity. To this purpose, we integrate an eco-hydrological model with the societal metabolism accounting scheme for land use, human activity, and water use. We explore four types of interactions: between societal organization and water uses/demands, between ecosystem organization and their water requirements/supplies, between societal metabolism and aquatic ecosystem health, and between water demand and availability. Our results reveal a metabolic pattern of a high mountain rural system striving to face exodus and agricultural land abandonment with a multifunctional economy. Centuries of social-ecological evolution shaping waterscapes through traditional water management practices have influenced the eco-hydrological functioning of the basin, enabling adaptation to aridity. We found a marked spatial gradient on water supply, use pattern, and impact on water bodies from the head to the mouth of the basin. Management challenges posed by the European water regulatory framework as a new driver of social-ecological change are highlighted.

EL ABASTECIMIENTO DE SEVILLA Y SU ZONA DE INFLUENCIA: INERCIAS DE LA POLÍTICA DE OFERTA Y DEBILIDADES DE LA GESTIÓN DE LA DEMANDA

Just at the end of the Expo 92, the water supply system of Seville breaks down. In order to analyse this issue, we must become aware of, at least, six aspects whose examination could help to understand the problems of water supply systems that affect the whole country: the assesment of the available resources, the management features (water-use patterns, rate system and water conservation practices), the possibilities of conversion of irrigation water supplies to meet domestic demands, the advantage of integrated management of ground and surface water, the environmental costs of the alternative solutions and the treatment of the consumers information and education. Last, the author suggests the minimal requirements that a demand management program, based in a integrated resource least cost planning, should fulfil.

Discursos sobre el agua en la cuenca del Segura: raíces históricas, continuidades y cambios recientes

espanolPartiendo de una reflexion conceptual y metodologica sobre analisis critico de discursos y apoyandose en un trabajo de campo de dos anos de duracion, este estudio identifica los valores relativos al agua, el medio ambiente y el territorio en la cuenca del Segura, tomando como hipotesis de partida el caracter dominante del discurso de la ‘modernizacion productiva’. Sobre esa base, el estudio presenta una caracterizacion discursiva de los actores y coaliciones sociales: sus narrativas y argumentaciones mas frecuentes, insertas en un proceso historico en continuo cambio; interpreta las formas con las que los diferentes actores contribuyen a reproducir o combatir las estrategias en presencia, y propone explicaciones de los conflictos, tratando de captar como estos se despliegan en un contexto de discursos y practicas concretas. El objetivo ultimo del estudio es analizar los procesos y los factores de cambio en la cuenca del Segura en general y en la Region de Murcia en particular; captar la evolucion, la adaptacion y el ‘aprendizaje institucional’; identificar las fracturas en las argumentaciones dominantes y los embriones e ingredientes de discursos emergentes, todavia no hegemonicos. EnglishDrawing upon a conceptual and methodological reflection on discourse analysis and based on a two year intensive fieldwork, this study addresses the identification of values on water, environment and territory in the Segura river basin. It takes as initial hypothesis the dominant character of the discourse of ‘productive modernization’. In parallel to this, the study develops a discursive characterization of social actors and coalitions, i.e., their more frequent narratives and technical and economic arguments, embedded in a historical process in constant change. On that basis, the study interprets the ways in which the different actors contribute to reproduce or to fight the confronting strategies in presence in the region. Furthermore, it presents explanatory proposals about the conflicts, trying to grasp how they are displayed in a historical context of concrete discourses and practices. The ultimate goal of the study is to analyze the processes and factors of change in the Segura river basin in general and in the region of Murcia in particular; to capture the evolution, adaptation and ‘institutional learning’; to identify fractures in some key arguments and the embryos and ingredients of emerging, no yet hegemonic discourses.

ECOLOGIA POLÍTICA Y ESCALAS EN LA GESTIÓN DEL AGUA. CUENCAS HIDROGRÁFICAS, ESTADOS Y PODERES TERRITORIALES EN LA PENÍNSULA IBÉRICA (ESPAÑA Y PORTUGAL)

En ese articulo se sintetiza el estado de la cuestion del debate sobre las politicas de escala en la gobernanza del agua. Con este telon de fondo, se revisa el caso de la Peninsula Iberica a la luz de las aproximaciones criticas a la consideracion de la cuenca como unidad incuestionable para la gestion del agua. El autor sostiene que cuando se discute sobre ‘ajuste espacial’ se debe prestar una especial atencion a cambios en las relaciones sociales y en las estructuras de poder. Entre las cuestiones claves que se debe plantear se incluyen: cuando es la cuenca hidrografica la alternativa apropiada; que tipo de decisiones se deben adoptar a escala de cuenca; y que practicas sostenibles y derechos legitimos se pueden poner en peligro.