COUNTRY
PROFILE - SPAIN
Introduction
Spain, as one of the
world's leading tourist countries, known for its colourful bullfights,
rocky Atlantic Coast, Sunny Mediterranean beaches and Islands, sunny climate
and beautiful story book castles, is the third largest country in Europe
and occupies about 5/6ths of Iberian Peninsula, which lies in the South
Western Europe, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Madrid is Spain's capital and largest city, situated in the centre of
the country. Most of Spain is a high dry plateau, called the "Meseta
Central". Hills and mountain chaines rise throughout the Meseta,
and north of it a mountain barrier, the Pyrenees. extends across the peninsula
and form border with France
The total population
of Spain, as per 2000 estimates is 40.2 million, of which 16.8 million
are active (7.1 % agriculture; 28.8 % industry and 64.1 % services). The
population density is 79,7 persons per sq. km (km2), of whom 91 % are
urban and 9 % rural. Although Spain has a non-confessional regime, about
99 per cent of the people are Roman Catholic. Spain is poor in natural
resources, however its chief mineral resource is the high-grade iron ore
found in the Northern Cantabran mountain chain. Copper, lead, mercury,
potash, pyrite, salt, titanium, uranium and zinc are also found.
Land
The total land area
of Spain is 504,750 km2, including the Balearic and Canary Islands. Of
the total land area, 244,493 km2 or 24,454 million ha (Mha) (48.4 %) is
unsuitable for any kind of farming..
Climate
Northern Spain, along
Atlantic Coast has mild summers, cool winters and plentifull rainfall
year round. Eastern and South Spain has Mediterranean climate of hot dry
summers with intense sun and mild moist winters. Remainder of Spain, mainly
the Meseta Central, has continental climate with extreme hot, dry and
sunny summers and very cold winters.
Rainfall
The mean annual rainfall
in the country is 648 mm , however, the annual rainfall variation is very
large, ranging from more than 1,600 mm over extensive zones of national
territory (even exceedig 2,000 mm) to some 300 mm in the large south-eastern
arm of the Peninsula. A rainfall as low as 200 mm in some areas of the
south and in the Canary Islands occurs.
Water resources,
legislation and development
The total average
runoff (natural renewable resources) is about 220 mm/year or 111 000 million
cubic meters (hm3) per year, corresponding to 504,750 km2 total surface
runoff. Spain has about 1200 large dams with a total capacity of 56,000
hm3 and a regulation capacity of 39,175 hm3/year (35 % natural renewable
resources), contrasting with the natural regulation hardly reaching 8,500
hm3/year.
From the Middle Ages
and well before, surface waters were in general, considered in Spain as
a public good, their use being normally subject to Royal grants and, if
for irrigation, their management being entrusted to different kinds of
farmers associations. These formerly private associations evolved for
centuries until they were for the first time recognized as public entities
by the Water Act of 1879, that however kept underground waters as private
property.
Although the establishment
of new irrigated areas has been for centuries a permanent concern of Spanish
Kings, it wasn't until the turn of the 19th Century that it became a national
need to encourage and support the private expansion of irrigation, to
which purpose appropriate legislation was issued and subsidies were granted
to private investors. This new water policy gave rise to a tremendous
Sate and private effort which resulted in practically fourfold the existing
irrigated area in 1900 and reach the regulation of 40% of natural renewable
resources. The 20th was actually the Century when Governors became aware
of the need to planify the water resources in order to achieve the country
development, and first attempts to establish a National Hydrological Plan
of global scope were made, including water transfers from excess to deficit
showing regions, of which the Tagus-Segura Transfer is an outstanding
example. A corner stone of that water policy was the territorial division
into river basins, entrusting their administration to specific entities,
the Hydrographic Confederations or River Basin Authorities, created in
1926.
Agriculture
About 51.6 % of Spain's
total area (260,257 km2 or 26,026 Mha) is used for farming, either as
crop land or as pasture and forest land. However agricultural production
in most regions has always been low because of the poor soil and dry climate.
About 2/3rd of all Spanish farmers are their own farms, the rest work
as hired hands or tenants of large farms. Less than 1 % of all land owners
hold about 50 per cent of the farm land in Spain, while the poorest 50
per cent of the land owners own only 5 % of the farm land. Out of the
said 26,023 million hectares (Mha) that are suitable for agricultural
purposes, 87 per cent is used for dry farming and the remaining 13 % is
irrigated. The irrigated land is yield 50 % of total agricultural production.
This indicates that 1 ha of irrigable land has the same production as
6.4 ha of dry farmed land. The present demand of water for agricultural
use is about 24,094 hm3/year (7,010 m3/ha/yr), of which more than half
comes from the great basins Ebro, Duero and Guadalquivir.
Irrigation
The total area equipped
for irrigation in Spain is 3.761 Mha, out of which 3.345 Mha is effectively
irrigated every year. The area irrigated by groundwater is 0.943 Mha while
2.402 Mha is served by surface water, of which 98500 ha is irrigated with
transferred water, 24000 ha with return flows, 17000 ha with treated waste
water and 551 ha is irrigated with desalinated water.
Various irrigation
methods are used in the country. As per 1997 estimates, while 1.981 Mha
are served by gravity iirrigation, 0,801 Mha use sprinkler irrigation
and 0.563 Mha use micro irrigation systems. Being historically an old
country, Spain has a long tradition of irrigated agriculture, as such
many of the irrigation installations are very old. It is estimated that
more than half of the present irrigation systems are over 40 years old,
of which over 1 Mha are more than a century old. The National Irrigation
Plan has therefore, considered improvement and rehabilitacion of some
2.035 Mha of irrigable land by the year 2008.
Special mention shall
be made to the Spain's centenary experience in irrigation which has resulted
in the present strong institutional network for water administration,
management and equitable use, extending from the State to irrigation farmers
whose associations or Irrigators Communities are world famous, as the
almost millenial Water Tribunal of Valencia, and others, and are an example
that has been taken as model by many other countries all the world over.
The quality of surface water is very good in general with local problems
caused by salinity in the upper Guadiana region, in areas of Guadalquivir
and Segura watersheds and also in coastal regions of Júcar and
eastern Pyrenees basins, and in the south.
Status of Food
While the food availability
in Spain is adequate, the dietary habits are changing. Some of the changes
include a slow and gradual reduction in per capita of food, steady decrease
in the consumption of bread, rice and cereal and their by-products and
increased in meat consumption and increased consumption on dairy by-products.
Food related industry accounts for 17.7 % of total Spanish industry production
value and occupies 14.5 % of total industry labour. It also contributes
to European Food Industry by 10.9 % of added value and 14.6 % of labour.
Artificial Recharge
The first recharge
facilities in Spain were located in the surrounding districts of Barcelona,
on the alluvial fans of the rivers Besos and Llobregat. Wells located
in the latter delta region are used to recharge aquifers during some years,
up to a maximum of 0.2 hm3/year using surplus water from a wastewater
treatment plant. Other interesting experiences include those performed
on the Island of Mallorca, in the Llano in Palma and the Boqueron in the
Segura basin, etc.
Since 1984, a number
of trials have been carried out in different areas of Spain. The results
obtained are encouraging but, despite the use of artificial recharging,
there is only a moderate hope to achieve a significant increase in the
available resources of the country. However, artificial recharge may solve
or mitigate some of the loccal problems, thus improving the water supply.
Desalination
Sea water desalination
has been used in Spain since 1969 for urban water supplies in Ceuta, Lanzarote,
Fuertentura and Gran Canaria, all of them having in common the very poor
avalability of water resources.
Overall, sea water
desalination currently contributes to the hydrological cycle with some
2,22 hm3/year, which places Spain in the leading position in Europe, owing
30 % of the total desalination equipment installed in the whole continent.
The adoption of new technologies and the steady reduction of water desalination
costs is encouraging to use it for irrigation of high profitable crops
which presently extends to some 1,000 ha.
Demand for water
supply to populated areas
This includes water
for domestic use (homes), municipal (garden irrigation, fire services,
etc.), collective (public services such as hospitals and schools), industrial,
commercial and even agricultural.
Tourism and second
homes generate a significant demand for water in Spain, frequently surpassing
by far the demand of the regular population during peak periods due to
the use of public and private swimming pools and other high water consuming
leisure facilities (golf courses, etc.)
Considering that Spain's
current population is slightly more than 40 million, the total present
water demand of populated areas is estimated to amount to some 4,667 hm3/year.
Demand for water
for industrial use
Curent total demand
for industries not connected to the municipal network is some 1,647 hm3/year.
This does not include the volume consumed by small industries and services
which are supplied by the municipal network and represents approximately
25 % of the total water registered by municipal meters, and is computed
as a demand for urban supply.
Demand for water for agricultural use
As mentioned above,
the water demand for agricultural use (irrigation) is for some 24,094
hm3 out of which more than half corresponds to the great basins of the
rievers Ebro, Duero and Guadalquivir.
National Policies
and Development Plans
The National Policies
and development plans are guided by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and
the institutional norms of the European Union, to which this country was
incorporated in 1986. As a result of this, private enterprise has become
the basic force behind economic and social development. Thus, the State
performs a purely subsidiary planning function in the national economy.
The agricultural policy is being defined by the EU Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP), and entails continuous and prolonged adaptation to the GATT
and WTO agreements facilitating two fundamental seemingly contradictory
objectives: (1) maintenance of farmers' incomes (aimed to fix population
to rural environment); and (2) the reduction of agricultural product prices
(in order to keep them in fine with international prices). Recently, a
National Irrigation Plan has been prepared, which provides for future
plans of improving and modernizing of specific irrigation areas. There
is also a National R&D Plan for the promotion of research and development
which lays emphasis on bio-technology, protection of the environment,
efficient use of water and rural development. This plan is coordinated
by the inter-ministerial Commission of Science and Technology. The structuring
element of hydraulic policy is the hydraulic planning which was legally
introduced and regulated by the Water Act of 1985. In 1999 the Ministry
of the Environment issued the White Book of Water in Spain which deals
with water resources and water use in Spain. Also Basin Hydrological Plans
for all Spanish basins have already been appoved, as well as the National
Hydrological Plan (NHP) which homogenize the individual basin plans and
defines the eventual water transfers from one basin to another in the
future to balance the uneveness of natural resources distribution. It
also contain details on the investments required for waste water purifying
which are shared by all the four administration levels.
Challenges for
the future
The entire Spanish
society is committed to the task of consolidating and improving systems
to be applied in order to achieve a sustainable and efficient exploitation
of water resources available in the country. The new policy requires the
public sector to place more emphasis on management through increased participation.
It requires the water management to be wise, global and integral (holistic).
The public sector will be required to be responsible for improving water
quality in river beds by reducing specific kind of pollution and by promoting
improvements in agricultural practice, to reduce the origin of non-point
pollution.
The financing of new
infrastructures will stem from previous direct participation by the beneficiaries
and they should finance themselves with private funds in order to carry
out new improvement and modernizing of irrigation projects. In light of
agreement with Portugal no water conflicts of an international nature
are envisaged. The common absences will be mainly as per the agreement.
Some of the areas which will need attention include: climate change, sharing
of economic water costs between social institutions, periodic droughts
and conflict resolution on water issues.
ICID and Spain
Spain became the member
of ICID in 1955 and since then has been actively participating in the
activities of the Commission. Five members of the Spanish National Committee
have been the Vice Presidents of ICID. They are: Mr. A. Peña Boeuf
(1959-62); Dr. D. Diaz-Ambrona (1969-72); Dr. J.M. Martin-Mendiluce (1983-86);
Dr. J.A. Ortiz F.-Urrutia (1991-94) and Mr. R. Segura-Graiño (1999-2002).
Six of the experts from Committee are contributing to the work of 9 workbodies.
The Spanish National Committee has organized various ICID events also:
the 7th IEC Meeting, held in Madrid 1n 1956, 11th IEC Meeting and 4th
Congress were organized in Madrid in 1960 and the 50th IEC and 17th Congress
were organized in Granada in 1999, as well as the 4th, 10th and 14th ICID
European Regional Conferences, respectively held in 1966, 1974 and 1986
in Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Seville and La Manga (Murcia). These events
were highly successfully. Dr. José A. Ortiz Fdz.-Urrutia also
contibutes Spanish version of the ICID
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