Artificial snow and dry river-acequias: Contesting the River-grabbing geography in the Dílar and Monachil Rivers, Spain

This article draws on political ecology and legal geography to analyze how the law co-shapes river-grabbing processes in the Dílar and Monachil Rivers. These rivers originate in the Sierra Nevada of Granada, a cultural landscape with rich biodiversity and abundant bodies of water. In this area, industrial uses of water for artificial snow production coexist with longstanding irrigation practices. In the context of global climate change and environmental transformations, decisions about water distribution for these different purposes are increasingly contested. Legal instruments such as water concessions and ecological flows play a central role in determining how water is allocated. Rather than being a purely legalistic or technical exercise, the implementation of these instruments is deeply contested and premised on specific understandings of what a river is and of the norms, relationships, and practices that support them. While the concept of water-grabbing typically focuses on the appropriation or privatization of water resources, we analyze this case through the lens of river-grabbing. This is a more complex process that encompasses not only the material appropriation of water but also the redefinition and transformation of rivers themselves as legal, ontological, and socio-emotional entities. This perspective is particularly significant in the Sierra Nevada context, where shifting legal frameworks and governance practices affect not only who controls water but also what the river is, who is entitled to define it, and whose relationships with the river are legitimized or marginalized. Through this case, we contribute to debates on river governance by paying particular attention to the plurilegal dimension of river-grabbing, shaped by interactions among the European Water Framework Directive, the Spanish water law, and customary irrigation norms.