Water Policy in Spain -- The (mini) Review

Garrido and Llamas edited this book on Spanish water policy. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to read it; even if I did, I would not have the expertise to evaluate it. On the other hand, I recommend it to anyone interested in that country, comparative institutions for managing water, and how those institutions evolved.

It's interesting that Spain's policy for moving water around is similar to the policies in the western US and Australia. And they have failed in the same ways: too much money was spent in moving water around, harming exporting areas and failing to enrich importing areas.

The authors say, for example, that "the most productive agricultural water uses were those initiated by private individuals tapping groundwater resources and not those served by irrigation projects..."

From this realization has come a devolution of authority in managing water projects from the center to the states, the end of big transfer projects, an emerging shortage of potable water on the SE coast (an area with few controls on growth and little preparation for desalination), a growth in water markets, and a realization that the failure to give appropriate value to environmental water has left the environment in bad shape.

The most remarkable aspect of this book is its supposed irrelevance in the face of the looming impact of the EU's water framework directive. The WFD imposes a slew of rules on member states, with the goal of restoring the environment and water quality. Some people (like me) worry that the WFD's "one size fits all" set of rules will not fit member states as well as rules that evolve out of local institutions but that still deliver to standards (like the "can fish live here?" standard). I don't know enough about the WFD or Spain's policies to even give a good opinion here.

What I do know is that anyone working on water in Spain will have to know this book, inside and out, if they are going to create a bridge from what was to what will be.

Que sera sera.