Who stays that water

With 50 days of rain in the last two monthsthe latest estimates indicate that it has rained 143% above Normal. Peninsula soils They are practically saturated and many basins are overflowing.

And now, suddenly, the big question is no longer how we prepare for summer. The big question has begun to be who stays all that water.

That is, suddenly, the problems have returned.

Let’s go to the figures. According to official data, on March 24, reservoir water It was 71.19%. It is something we had not seen in recent years, but if we look at the last three weeks, the country’s water reserves have increased by 22.7% and have reached 39,895 cubic hectometers. That, in terms of urban consumption (that is, discounting agricultural and industrial uses), is a year and a half of water for households, public services and shops. A real barbarity.

In fact, In some areas of the countryit has rained so much that, although it would not fall one more drop of water in the remainder of the year, the figures would be above the historical average.

Even in areas where it has rained less (such as the southeast end or The interior basins of Catalonia), the snow meters accumulated in their respective mountain ranges They are optimistic in which the reserves will increase.

Reserves that are already being distributed. The Andalusian Mediterranean Basins Management Commission has tripled water For irrigation and has expanded urban supply in Malaga. In practice, 100% of normal consumption will be recovered throughout the province except in the most tensioning area, the axarchy, where 90% will be recovered.

Tens of thousands of farmers from the Guadalquivir basin (especially those of the subjectic and penibetics mountain ranges) also They hope it relievesn irrigation restrictions in the next few days. And, in Murcia, the irrigation union They already look at the head of the header of the Tagus that has reached “level 1, which allows the maximum to be transferred.”

And this is where the problems are. Because as Antonio Figueroa remembered, in lavozdeelsur.es“Just as it is said that fires go out in winter – with prevention work – droughts are managed with full reservoirs.”

As Figueroa points outnow “it’s time to start managing the next drought.” In a context in which the demand for water (for agriculture, tourism or consumption) never ceases to grow, the decisions we make now will permanently persecute us.

Remember that, despite the fact that “the urban supply can be guaranteed for a couple of years”, in the case of irrigation, it is not so. We came from very low reserves and little that we do not manage the moment well, we can find ourselves in trouble next year.

And how do we do it? The main pending task is to design and start a true control and management system. In addition to introducing active policies that allow to attach the demand for water to the rains and the resources we have.

That is, common sense measures that take advantage of the enormous potential of the available technology to ensure that the best possible use of available water. However, as the popular saying says, in the water world Common sense seems the least common of the senses.

Image | Aemet / Pierre-Etienne Vilbert

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