Resumen de La gestión pública de una obra hidráulica compleja, entre el marco internacional y los intereses regionales privados: el caso del trasvase Tajo-Segura (España)

Luis Alfonso Escudero Gómez, Alejandro Martín Trigo

• español

  Los procesos económicos globales han agravado los problemas, conflictos y tensiones derivados del uso del agua dulce a escala global, estatal, regional y local. En la época contemporánea, la aceleración derivada de la industrialización y la urbanización ha aumentado el consumo del agua y las infraestructuras artificiales para su utilización. Hoy, el capitalismo de mercado global se ha ido apropiando de los recursos naturales y en el uso del agua predominan los intereses privados.

  Al mismo tiempo, la degradación medioambiental obliga a intentar compatibilizar el consumo humano y económico con el respeto hacia la naturaleza. En la legislación vigente, en áreas como la Unión Europea, ya se da prioridad a la conservación del medio ambiente sobre la utilización incontrolada del agua como recurso productivo, sobre todo a partir de la aprobación de la Directiva Marco del Agua en 2000. Sin embargo, la política hidráulica española se ha centrado en el agua como bien económico. Con esta premisa se construyeron infraestructuras como el trasvase Tajo-Segura.

  Actualmente, España, como miembro de la UE, debe adaptarse a la DMA y esto genera un tensa relación internacional-nacional-regional por la gestión pública del trasvase. El artículo se centra en esta cuestión. Se aplicará una metodología deductiva y basada en un análisis teórico crítico a partir del estudio bibliográfico y de la normativa vigente, del apoyo en datos cuantitativos y de las reflexiones de los autores.

  Se concluye que el trasvase no se ajusta a la sostenibilidad ambiental y ecológica que proclama la DMA, sino que sigue respondiendo a la necesidad de satisfacer la demanda de la cuenca receptora. Además, en periodos de sequía se permite el mercado de cesión de agua de la cuenca cedente a la receptora entre particulares, ignorando el impacto ecológico derivado y superponiendo los intereses económicos. La prioridad debería ser satisfacer la demanda de agua dulce como necesidad de abastecimiento para toda la población y evitar los impactos al medio ambiente. Sin embargo, es evidente que las autoridades públicas están principalmente preocupadas por satisfacer las demandas de agua que tienen que ver con la producción económica aun a sabiendas de no cumplir plenamente con la legislación europea. La contribución resultará de interés a nivel científico y social y se une al debate actual en torno a las políticas de agua dulce en las dinámicas globales.

• English

  Some global economic processes have aggravated the problems, conflicts and tensions that are derived from the use of freshwater on a global, state, regional and local scale. In modern times, the acceleration caused by industrialisation and urbanisation has increased water consumption, as well as the artificial infrastructures for its use. Nowadays,capitalism in the global market has taken ownership of natural resources and, in the use of water, private interests predominate. At the same time, environmental degradation urges human and economic consumption to be made compatible with the respect for nature. In current legislation, priority is given to environmental conservation regarding uncontrolled use of water as a productive resource, especially since the adoption of the Water Framework Directive in the European Union in 2000. However, the Spanish hydraulic policy has centred on water as an economic good. With this premise, certain infrastructures were built, such as the Tagus-Segura transfer. At present, Spain, as an EU member, must adapt to the WFD, so this generates a tense relationship regarding the public management of said transfer internationally, nationally and regionally. The matter of water distribution in Spain is a territorial issue between different autonomous communities where political strategies have a growing impact. National hydraulic policy has led to a politicisation which has confronted different regions, therefore resulting in water being at the moment a determinative factor of regionalist identity. Such political and territorial rivalries on a regional and national state have become even more complicated in the case of the Tagus-Segura transfer due to the obligation to apply the WFD from the EU legislation adopted in 2000. There is also the situation that the internal water management processes are part of a complex international scenario. This article focuses on situations that intend to overrun the national and regional scale, towards an international and global one. In spite of the fact that the Tagus-Segura transfer is a Spanish hydraulic work, its use has been widely covered by the EU legislation, that is, the WFD, so there is a fraught relationship as a consequence of the public management of said transfer at the present time. For this reason, the first point that is addressed is whether the WFD is being implemented regarding the transfer or there is an infringement in its principles with a prevalence of economic interests in the catchment area. The second question which is discussed is the relation of asymmetric power between private and social interests in the transfer, and whether it responds to the global logic of a growing appropriation of natural resources with economic purposes.The main objective of this article is to shed light on such questions. To do so, a deductive methodology is used, based on a theoretical and critical analysis of the existing literature and the current legislation, as well as quantitative data and the authors’ considerations. The structure of the article is created according to this introduction, and it continues with a theoretical framework and the results, and a final conclusion. The main findings of this study are: 1) the Tagus-Segura transfer violates and does not respond to the basic principles of the Water Framework Directive of the EU, where the traditional objective of satisfying the demand of the catchment area and its economic interests take precedence over environmental sustainability and the ecological improvement of the transferring river basin, and 2) the water use in the transfer can be framed in the global neoliberal trend of appropriation of natural resources, where private interests dominate over the social interests in an asymmetrical relationship of power.The transfer has become a controverted issue of great complexity, which has led to territorial tension provoked by political confrontation between regional governments due to a competitive dynamic within the autonomous state. At the same time, Spain has persistently made an infringement of the principles marked by the European WFD. It is true that the legislation context in which the transfer was made was very different to that of the present day. In fact, the Spanish legislation did not contemplate the evaluation of environmental impacts back then. The transfer was a tool of hydrological planification that considered water to be an economic resource meant to satisfy the demand as the main objective. As a consequence, this implied the degradation of water ecosystems and the quality of water itself, resulting in a reduction of the latter within the Tagus river basin.The application of the WFD in Spain has contributed to coordinating the efforts in water management better, and it has bolstered research to determine the specific effects on water resources at a national and basin levels. Nevertheless, there has been a minimal incorporation of progress and new scientific knowledge regarding water planification and management strategies in the long term. At present, it is still necessary to progress in the Spanish water policy, as well as to improve its inadequate governance and diminish the pressure and impact on water bodies.The insufficient compliance of the WFD by the Spanish legislation framework, which was initialised by its late transposition and continued with a lack of compromise with the environmental preference in water management that the directive imposes, influences directly the Tagus-Segura transfer. In reference to environmental sustainability, the economic demand has been privileged continually, and this has entailed an impediment when water extraction prevents the river Tagus from having a true ecological flow. The costs of the infrastructure have not recovered yet as the WFD dictates, as water rates are not included. Thus, private interests in the catchment area are favoured, as transferred water is easily accessible at a lower price, so it is indirectly subsidised. Finally, an unclear water market between particulars has been permitted, which lacks in transparency, allowing water to be shared during periods of drought between basins, when the normal transfer remains limited as dictated by the WFD.The priority should be to satisfy the freshwater demand as a necessity to supply all the population and to avoid environmental impacts. However, it is evident that the authorities mainly care about satisfying the demands of water that are related to economic production, even though they do not knowingly abide by the European legislation. Imaginative solutions are needed in order to find alternatives so that the spirit of the WFD is respected and water protection prevails, and public interest is given priority over private interests, although this is not always at reach in the current political context. For this reason, future academic works must tackle this issue. The contribution can be of interest at a scientific and social level, and it links to the current debate regarding freshwater policies in global dynamics.