Environmental Challenges and Water Resources in Spain

Posted on Dec 8, 2024 in Geography

Unit 4: The Natural Landscape and Nature-Society Interrelationships

1. The Influence of Environment on Human Activity

1.1. The Natural Environment as a Resource

e. Soil

Influences the following aspects:

  • Agriculture, livestock, and forestry. Therefore, it is dependent on fertility. In Spain, the general agricultural quality of the soil is poor. There are contrasts between very poor soils (soils in arid zones) and more fertile soils (Atlantic Spain soils and red Mediterranean soils).
  • The population has occupied space in areas of fertile soils, such as Murcia, Valencia, and the Guadalquivir valley.
b. Deforestation

The causes of deforestation are:

  • Agricultural and livestock activities, especially the increase in tillage (breaking forest areas).
  • Urban development and the installation of industries (the development of housing estates, second residences).
  • The spread of forest fires caused by drought and speculative interests.
c. Pollution, Erosion, and Desertification of Land
  • Pollution is caused by industrial and municipal discharges and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
  • Erosion is a natural phenomenon. In most of Spain, it is accentuated by sharp slopes and torrential rainfall. It may be exacerbated by deforestation and agricultural and livestock practices. Soil erosion is a problem in Spain, mainly in semiarid regions. This problem may increase as a result of climate change.
  • Desertification is the loss of topsoil due to extreme erosion. Almost 1,000,000 hectares are considered desert in Spain.
d. The Exploitation and Pollution of Water
  • Overfishing is caused by increased consumption of water for agricultural, urban, and industrial growth. It has occurred alongside the construction of hydraulic works (wells, channels) that have changed the channel and river flow and have exploited aquifers, causing their desiccation.
  • Water pollution is caused by the discharge of waste caused by human action.
  • The causes are:
    • Rural pollution (fertilizers).
    • Industrial pollution caused by expulsion into rivers and seas.
    • Proliferation of toxic algae and heavy metals like mercury and cadmium that can be integrated into the food chain.
  • The most affected areas of Spain are:
    • Southern Huelva.
    • The estuary of Galicia Nervión.
    • Areas affected by urban “black tides” (pollution produced by the discharge of sewage and garbage from illegal dumping).
c. Vegetation

Provides various resources such as food, raw materials for various industries, energy sources, and leisure and recreation (related to protected natural areas). It contributes to the protection and improvement of environmental quality because it acts as a noise screen, helps reduce evaporation, and increases fertility by becoming humus.

d. Water and Water Resources

This is an essential resource that is used in numerous activities, such as:

  • Irrigated agriculture, which consumes 80% of the total water, a large percentage of which is wasted.
  • Energy production in power plants.
  • Urban consumption (household consumption and leisure and tourist activities).
  • Spain is the EU country that consumes the most water per capita.
  • Waste disposal, which has caused a progressive deterioration of water.

Related to the water balance is the existing water resources and the consumption made of them. In Spain, this balance is positive, but there are a series of problems:

  • The availability of water mainly comes from rivers. We distinguish between surplus basins (Duero and Ebro) and deficit basins (Mediterranean basin).
  • The lawsuit focuses on areas of economic and demographic dynamism, that is, in the Mediterranean.
  • Significant losses occur annually due to the use of inadequate irrigation (blanket or spray).

Water policy has two main purposes: the regulation of water resources, established with the approval of the Water Act, and the management of water resources with the National Water Plan and River Basin Management Plans prepared by the hydrographic confederations.

The new program aims to achieve the following objectives:

  • Ensure the hydraulic supply through new waterworks (built desalination plants on the Mediterranean coast and Canary Islands).
  • Improve water use efficiency through storage and distribution infrastructure, consumption saving, and reuse of treated water.

Other objectives can be raised, such as:

  • Getting good water quality through water treatment plants and sewage treatment plants.
  • Flood prevention and drought through waterworks.

The infrastructure created to regulate water resources includes:

  • Reservoirs: Large expanses of artificially stored water through the construction of a dam. They were constructed from the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera to the dictatorship of Franco.
  • Distribution channels: Supply towns and irrigation areas.
  • Transfers: Transfers of surplus basin water to deficit basins. The most important is the Tajo-Segura. The Ebro transfer has been studied but has not been carried out.
  • Seawater: Used through the technique of desalination. Spain is the first country in the EU and eighth in the world in the production of desalinated water. Plants predominate in the Mediterranean Sea.