Up to 27 Million in Spain Face Water Shortages by 2050, Minister Warns

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Southeastern Spain, which is home to some of the largest olive oil-pro­duc­ing provinces in the coun­try, is head­ing for a 40-per­cent reduc­tion in water resource avail­abil­ity by 2050, accord­ing to the Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographics.

Teresa Ribera said this fig­ure rep­re­sents a crit­i­cal decrease that is far worse than the 24-per­cent reduc­tion that the rest of the coun­try is expected to expe­ri­ence.

She also con­firmed that deser­ti­fi­ca­tion is rapidly expand­ing in the coun­try to the point that three-quar­ters of Spain might be at risk.

“If no mea­sures are taken, 70 per­cent of the whole Spanish ter­ri­tory will be affected by droughts by 2050,” Ribera said, adding that up to 27 mil­lion Spanish cit­i­zens risk fac­ing water short­ages within the next three decades.

“We are going to have to han­dle our­selves in extreme sce­nar­ios,” the min­is­ter told a gath­er­ing of local, national and European offi­cials in Alicante.

According to Ribera, the next decade will present chal­lenges that will require the imple­men­ta­tion of entirely new mit­i­ga­tion and adap­ta­tion strate­gies that have not been laid out in pre­vi­ous strate­gic plans.

The min­is­ter warned of a sce­nario influ­enced by sud­den floods alter­nat­ing with ​“max­i­mum droughts.” She also stressed how the very sig­nif­i­cant impacts of cli­mate change that are to be expected require ​“a per­ma­nent review of the infra­struc­tures which will be nec­es­sary to address the sit­u­a­tion.”

Ribera also empha­sized the impor­tance of imme­di­ate action to guar­an­tee seam­less dig­i­tal con­nec­tiv­ity among Spanish water­sheds, which will require a sub­stan­tial upgrade to exist­ing infra­struc­ture and cur­rently poses a major chal­lenge for the south­east of the coun­try, which includes parts of Andalusia.

Along with improv­ing the con­nec­tiv­ity between Spanish water­sheds, Ribera also called for more water recy­cling, desalin­iza­tion and larger con­tri­bu­tions to the national water­sheds from rivers.

Other mit­i­ga­tion actions will also include grow­ing crops that are more resilient to the impacts of cli­mate change, new infra­struc­ture to pre­vent flood­ing and more water-effi­cient sys­tems.

• Agropopular
• EFE Verde