The news is coming in fast and furious on the Spanish water crisis, which is becoming the central topic of Spanish politics. When we last looked at the Spanish press 2 days ago, central government First Vice-President María Teresa Fernández de la Vega had declaredthat there would be no diversion of water from the Ebro or it's tributaries, while Catalan Environment Counselor, Francesc Baltasar, announced that the Catalan government, the Generalitat, would move ahead with construction on the assumption that permission would come later.
It didn't take long for Counselor Baltasar to receive another call from Madrid.
The government in Madrid puts its foot down.
Narbona Reiterates to Baltasar that Diversion from the Segre has been Rejected and that she Considers the Subject Closed
The Acting Environment Minister, Cristina Narbona, repeated today in a telephone conversation with the Environment Counselor of the Generalitat, Francesc Baltasar, that the Government has rejected the diversion of water from the Segre River to the Llobregat watershed, and has asked the Catalan Executive Branch to study other alternatives such as purchasing water rights from farmers. In this way, the Minister has put an end to the discussion according to sources from within the Department.
The minister also informed the Catalan government that Madrid is willing to cooperate in finding solutions to the problem until two new desalination plants can come on line. She went on to say that the Government recognizes that shipping water to Barcelona by ship from the desalination plant in Almería is insufficient to supply the city's needs.
[Canary Island solar-powered desalination plant--right]
El País, Madrid March 31, 2008
Regionalism trumps party loyalty when it comes to water.
Saura accuses the Government of "Disloyalty" for Opposing the Diversion of Water from the Segre
The President of ICV [Initiative for a Green Catalonia], Joan Saura, labeled as "irresponsible" the statements by Government Vice President, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, and called on the Executive to formalize an alternative proposal to resolve the drought situation if it does not rain before October.
Saura, who is also the Generalitat's Counselor of the Interior went on to say that the Catalan government was proposing "structural solutions such as desalination plants along with measures like water recycling and reducing consumption."
La Vanguardia, Barcelona March 29, 2008
And localism trumps regionalism.
Lleida's Irrigators insist on holding on to "their" Segre River
The Generalitat's plan to divert water from the Segre River to the Llobregat has put Lleida's irrigators on a war footing. The caveat of "it's only temporary" that the Catalan government keeps repeating has convinced almost no one in a land where the refrain of water diversions sounds regularly with the Segre as its target. The farmers whose lands drink from the river, insist that there isn't enough river to share with anyone, and even less during a drought when extractions from the Segre are minimal. [graphic from Agencia Catalana del Agua]
The Generalitat has various projects for reforming the canal and moving to a more efficient irrigation system (sprinklers and drip irrigation), but they've been stalled by the elevated cost of the work, around 1 billion [euros]. The sector itself believes that replacing the traditional irrigation methods would save some 400 hectometers per year, more than ten times the amount that the Generalitat expects to divert from the Segre to the Llobregat.
El País, Madrid March 31, 2008
As the drought worsens other areas want to stop the exporting of water from their farms to the metropolis.
Regions deny water to Barcelona
"If they want water let them bring it from Mars" demonstrators against the management of the drought have been chanting for weeks. Opposition to ceding water to Barcelona has spread like wildfire in the rest of Catalonia: Lleida rejects diversion from the Segre; Girona has begun to demand that water from the Ter remain in the province; Tarragona is opposed even to the diversion of water from unused aquifers.
The Catalan Government's plans are very broad: diversion from the Segre, captures from other places in Lleida, transport of water by ship from Marseille, Almería and Tarragona and some other unconfirmed strategies. The goal is to get to April 2009 when the first of the great projects undertaken in the last 30 years comes on line: the desalination plant in Llobregat south of Barcelona, which will produce 60 [cubic] hectometers annually, equal to two months of consumption.
El País, Madrid March31, 2008
As if it's not bad enough that the central government says NO to your proposals and the provinces are in open rebellion, now along comes the Institute of Catalan Studies to criticize Environment Counselor's Francesc Baltasar's mincing of words about what the Generalitat's is really up to. We certainly could have used Professor Marti i Castell's passion for plain speaking to reign in Bush and Cheney's linguistic subterfuges lies during the last seven years.
The president of the philological section of the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC according to its Spanish initials), Joan Martí i Castell, has given assurances that no other word exists other than diversion to define the taking of water that the Catalan government wants to carry out on the Segre River in order to transfer it to the Llobregat watershed.
In a radio interview Marti i Castell explained:
"What can happen is that politically he doesn't like to use diversion because there is some sort of commitment that makes it better to speak about capture or whatever, but there is no reason why language has to wait on politics," emphasized the philologist from the Catalan Academy of the Language.
La Vanguardia, Barcelona March 28, 2008
The following is from an editorial in El País.
Barcelona, Thirsting
Barcelona y its metropolitan area comprise 5 million inhabitants in a zone that does not have even one voluminous river. It draws its water from two minor channels: the Ter, principally, and the Llobregat. The reserves of both are now below minimum owing to the conjunction of two factors: a persistent drought (the greatest in the 60 years for which records have been kept) and the lack of foresight of the Catalan governments wherein CiU [conservative Catalan nationalist party], today belligerent about the matter has much to be sorry for. Even if it had chosen to undertake its grand project, the diversion of water from the Rhône, the current drought situation could not have been avoided because in order to complete the project (assuming there were no delays) would still take four more years.
The goal is to survive until October when there may be rain. "If it rains, perfect. But a responsible Government cannot base its policies on that happening." The diversion of water from the Segre is not the worst solution but Baltasar with his secretiveness and linguistic gymnastics has created a firestorm.
Today, in Catalonia the consumption of water is very unequal: the primary sector (agriculture and livestock raising) soak up 73% of the resources while their contribution to GNP is barely2%. Domestic consumption is only 18%. The rest goes to an industry where the payment of rates (unlike what happens in agriculture) has imposed conservation policies. All of this will have to be rebalanced. But, immediately, what must be done is to resolve the supply problem until the desalination plants can go on line, three foreseen, with two under construction whose total contribution will be 180 cubic hectometers a year equal to the entire deficit of the metropolitan area. After the saga of the blackouts and the chaos of the commuter trains, Barcelona's residents deserve at least not to go thirsty.
El País, Madrid March 31,2008
Crossposted at European Tribune