The Impact of Climate Change on the Water Sector in Spain

The stress on water resources is very high in the Mediterranean region, with pressures driven by substantial irrigation withdrawals. The impacts of climate change will be severe in the region, which will require a more sustainable water management. In Spain, the strong growth in income and population has doubled water withdrawals and degraded water quality since the 1960s. Although water management in Spain is based on stakeholders’ cooperation, the ample range of policy and investment initiatives has been unable to stop water scarcity in basins. The worst scarcity situation pervades the basins of southern Spain, which are almost closed basins with dwindling outflows in the Segura, Jucar and Guadalquivir estuaries. The Spanish plan for adaptation requires integrating climate change in water planning, and the adaptation measures considered are augmenting supply, curbing demand, irrigation modernization and better control of groundwater. Desalinated seawater and treated urban wastewater are already used in southern basins, and will be expanded in the short term. However, the water unbalance in the long term will require an enormous desalination capacity, or else a strong reduction of irrigation withdrawals, both with high costs to farmers. The evaluation of climate adaptation measures in selected basins indicates the outcomes from alternative policy strategies that impact economic activities and environmental flows.