Too many golf courses, and other environmental disasters...

[Ben]

The Greenpeace article (http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/the-expedition/news/concrete-stranglehold) I mentioned on the blog (http://www.notesfromspain.com/472/) highlights the conundrums facing tourist development in Spain - the more people that come, the more you need to build. The more you build, the more you spoil your original resource.

The figures I find most shocking are those for the golf couses:

The quantity of newly planned golf courses is simply shocking. The Andalusia community alone will have 210 golf courses if current plans are implemented. On an average, a golf course’s annual water consumption of 700,000 cubic metres is equivalent to the water consumption of 15,000 people.

In theory, these golf courses must be irrigated with treated wastewater - to save fresh water supplies for agriculture and human consumption. However, due to a lack of water treatment plants, most golf courses in Spain irrigate with fresh water. Meanwhile, Spain suffers through its worst drought in fifty years.

Oddly enough, the number of golf courses planned near the coast deeply contrasts with the small number of people actually playing. Only 0.6 percent of the people in Spain are golfers, and that figure only rises to 1.1 percent if you look at Europe as a whole. But construction continues thanks to the conventional wisdom that golf courses increase the property value of nearby homes and hotels.
What would you tell the Spanish government to do? When does the building stop? How to you inject a bit of environmental responsibility into the country's need for the toursit euro?

[ValenciaSon]

Does Spain have some type of environmental regulatory agency? Maybe that’s what’s needed? Seems like there is a lack of zoning oversight in the urban planning.

[Ben]

http://www.20minutos.es/data/img/2006/07/11/489731.jpg

Another image I found on 20minutos.com, of the resevoir at Mediano, on the Río Cinca - no rain means that as the waters subside the old church is appearing from the village that was flooded when the valley was damned. A few more Golf courses, a couple more months without rain, and it will may be possible to walk the streets of villages like this all over Spain!

[greytop]

The golf courses are almost always part of an urbanisation plan involving houses/hotels. One small village near me (population about 700) has had plans for a golf course and 1500 dwellings. Not exactly in keeping with its surroundings!

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.837435,-0.073299&spn=0.075547,0.117588&t=k&om=1
To give you some idea of the scale of things
The link is to google maps and in the centre is a new urbanisation (Penya Roja) with Pego to the left (about 11,000 inhabitants) and an existing urbanisation (Monte Pego) to the right. Between the new bit and Pego is scheduled a golf course and another 1300 houses. Supposedly they are changing the size of the sewage treatment plant to cope with the demand for irrigation water. The are of the golf course is currently (irrigated) citrus farming.
I don't know how this "progress" can be stopped whilst there is such a huge demand for property that most builds are sold off plan and at ever increasing prices.
I'm already here so it would be inconsistent of me to deny others the same privilege but there has to be a limit of some sort or the place won't be worth living in.
There are also other environmental issues. One potential development a few km away threatens the quality & supply of water to the (protected) marsh area near Pego even though it is the other side of a range of hills. The ex-mayor was given a jail sentence (under appeal) for his part in changing some of these into rice fields. And the coasts are under even more pressure with inadequate water supplies
I think we need some politicians of exceptional calibre to get to grips with this whole question. Anyone know of any?

[Chiny]

The Greenpeace article (http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/the-expedition/news/concrete-stranglehold)
Without commenting on the intent of that article, dodgy figures are not helpful which imply an unbelievable per capita water consumption of sub 130 litres/head/day. Spain is the biggest EU domestic water guzzler and you probably need to double the 130.

What would you tell the Spanish government to do? When does the building stop? How to you inject a bit of environmental responsibility into the country's need for the toursit euro?
(1) Ensure that water users are charged per cubic metre, with the basic human need consumption, charged cheaply. Examining my Spanish water bill, I see my standing charge swamps my usage charge.
(2) Tackle the inefficient (measured on an EU basis) agricultural sector. I have no idea how farmers irrigate but the numbers show it is awful.

WARNING: This was written under time pressure with figures from memory.

--
Chiny

[gary]

Spain is the biggest EU domestic water guzzler and you probably need to double the 130.
Chiny

I know there are water issues in spain but much of the country is desert - unlike the south east of england where the politicians were telling people not to take baths or flush toileys a few weeks ago!!

[Brian]

My understanding is that the currently in-power Socialists nixed a plan for a freshwater pipeline to the parts of Spain where it's needed most, correct? Blame Zapatero and company if you like.

Meanwhile, the northern regions of spain that allow millions of gallons to run into the ocean daily continue to enjoy their overabundance.

[richardksa]

Just a "by the way":

We've just been collating our records. We discovered that in the five years that the oil crew I work on has been operating we have used 51,000,000 litres of water. That's about 300 lt/day/man - and we can't think if a way to reduce it. Consider that every drop is brought in by tankers and 50,000 litres costs about £40. (Not counting the cost of fuel or maintenance of the tankers, which might make two or three round trips of 100km/day.)

I have no idea if this is a good deal.Could those with meters tell me how much 51,000,000 litres would cost in the UK and elsewhere?

What I do know is that wherever I have worked where there are water shortages, (The Sahara Desert, Somalia, Tchad, The Middle East) the natives have all been incrediably wasteful as the figures above demonstrate. They leave taps running, will only wash under running water and don't really care if the storage bladders spring a leak or not. In Africa where charity money has provided clean water on tap, the taps were smashed off as it was "better" to have pool that the cattle could drink from. That these pools became mosquito infested did not seem to matter. Protests are met with, "It's our culture".

[Brian]

In Africa where charity money has provided clean water on tap, the taps were smashed off as it was "better" to have pool that the cattle could drink from. That these pools became mosquito infested did not seem to matter. Protests are met with, "It's our culture".

Ouch. Your charity and tax dollars at work, creating malaria pools!

[greytop]

I have no idea if this is a good deal.Could those with meters tell me how much 51,000,000 litres would cost in the UK and elsewhere?

Aquagest charge at following rates round this part of N. Costa Blanca

27 cubic m @ 0.24€ = €negligible
28-40 cub m @ 0.284€ = €negligible
>40 cub m @ 0.5849 = € 29,830
NB 1 cubic metre = 1000 litres (I hope!)

For 51,000 cubic metres about 30,000€ / 20,000 GBP
For 50 cub metres or 50,000 litres about 30€ / 20 GBP

Obviously spread over a long period it costs a little less due to the low start rates.

So the more you use the more it costs. Glad I don't have a swimming pool!

We (2 people) used an average 8.5 cubic metres = 8,500 litres/month over the last 6 months so at 280 litres/day that is around your 300 litres/day.

PS
plus 7% IVA (Value added tax) on water
and we pay sewage charges to El Gobierno Valenciano:
all useage @ 0.224/cubic m = € sin IVA
and a small charge for the meter 0.73€ + 16% IVA

And as they say in the small print E&OE

[Ben]

My understanding is that the currently in-power Socialists nixed a plan for a freshwater pipeline to the parts of Spain where it's needed most, correct? Blame Zapatero and company if you like.

Meanwhile, the northern regions of spain that allow millions of gallons to run into the ocean daily continue to enjoy their overabundance.
They nixed the National Hydrological Plan (due to popular opposition) as it intended to take huge amounts of water from the wet north and divert it south. Those in the north argued that the south were going to water their golf courses at the expense of complex ecosystems such as the Ebro delta, that would have suffered potentially huge damage from having large amounts of its water removed.

From one report (http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:83e7FCKiuLYJ:www.unizar.es/fnca/docu/docu1.doc+spain+national+hydrological+plan&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3) I found on-line:

The overall conclusion we have reached is that it would be unsound to proceed with the plan in its present form for the following reasons:

1. Implementation will threaten survival of important habitats and species protected under existing European legislation.
2. The proposed reduction in water flow and consequential further loss of sediment supply puts at risk the sustainability of the entire delta, its ecosystems and human communities. This is particularly so given the ongoing subsidence of the delta and the probability of accelerating sea level rise and climate change.
3. Insufficient attention seems to have been paid to the wide range of guidance currently available from other experiences and arising from obligations under EC directives and International Conventions such as Ramsar and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
There is immense public opposition to the plan across a wide range of stakeholders in the affected area of the Ebro Basin and particularly in the delta.
From a World Wild Life Fund article (http://www.wwf-species.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater/problems/infrastructure/water_transfers/ebro_transfer/nature/index.cfm):

'The transfer would have had an indirect effect on my work as an English teacher,' explains local activist Cutts, 'but a direct effect on my soul. I have already noticed a slowing down, or halt, to local economies. For many years, young people have had to migrate to the large cities in the north of Catalunya to find work. The population of most towns is ageing. Progress is pitiful compared to other parts of Spain. This would have been the final nail in the coffin.'
'The only chance for future livelihoods depends on the area's natural resources and the principal one is the river and its delta.'

See also this pdf WWF report (http://assets.panda.org/downloads/sevenreasonswhywwfopposessnhp.pdf), "Seven reasons why WWF opposes the Spanish National Hydrological Plan".

The Socialists originally promised to build coastal desalinisation plants instead, but I am not sure if these projects are underway yet or not.

[Brian]

The Socialists originally promised to build coastal desalinisation plants instead, but I am not sure if these projects are underway yet or not.

Sounds EXTREMELY expensive to me.

[Ben]

Sounds EXTREMELY expensive to me.
Let the golfers pay!

[greytop]

Not being an expert on hydrological matters it has always seemed strange to me that they cannot pipe water from the river mouth to where it is needed, i.e. take it out after it has done all the locals want/need. Possibly on grounds of cost? The paper reported earlier this year that in 3 months something like 4 times the required amount of water of the asked for transfer had been discharged from the River Ebro into the sea.
It must be less environmentally damaging than building all these desalination plants that seem to be the only current answer. They discharge nasty effluents into the local environment, use a lot of electricity and rapidly reach capacity and have to be augmented.
On the downside of relying on transfers, they will not work unless the demand is stabilised. (Bit like the road bypass of a town causing more traffic!) Some systemic thinking needed.
This problem of Southern Valencia region and south may eventually spread further north as/if the climate changes continue. It will be interesting to see the opinion of the Catalans then.

[Brian]

This problem of Southern Valencia region and south may eventually spread further north as/if the climate changes continue. It will be interesting to see the opinion of the Catalans then.

You may have struck on something there. Those that have an overabundance of water have seperatist ideals. Why should they share their resources with what they consider a "foreign nation?"

[simonb]

A glimmer of hope for the conscience-pricked golfer:

http://travel.independent.co.uk/europe/article360793.ece

[richardksa]

Here's what they did in Libya. For a brief while I was part of this - well, a group of us were actually accused of trying to sabotage it!!!!! (Long Story)

http://www.water-technology.net/projects/gmr/

However, if you dig deep, you will see just how expensive piping useful quantities of water can be. I doubt whether Spain's finances could stand it, even with a massive grant from the EU. Libya's population is much less than Spain's, so multiplication sums might come into play. Incidently the pipes used were large enought to drive a small truck through - and they went for hundreds of miles.

[cubix]

Water is one of the biggest political issues, ask anybody who lives in the Western United States. The colorado river, starts in Colorado(Duh!) by the time it reaches Mexico it is dry because so much is sucked out for agriculture and the cities.

It always amazes me that people decide to build cities in the desert...Even moreso people who try to farm in the desert, I was just in the Chihuahuan desert in North Texas, and we would drive past farm field, one day we drove past a pistachio farm, across the street you could see dust devils(think tornado's of dust) just flying around. But now we get into the issue of over population, but I will save that for another time..

[Chiny]

(2) Tackle the inefficient (measured on an EU basis) agricultural sector. I have no idea how farmers irrigate but the numbers show it is awful.

Newsvine (http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/08/01/871867-spanish-farmers-modernize-water-control) reports on how water is wasted by Spanish farmers and gives some hints on a fix.

--
Chiny

[Acosta]

They nixed the National Hydrological Plan (due to popular opposition) as it intended to take huge amounts of water from the wet north and divert it south. Those in the north argued that the south were going to water their golf courses at the expense of complex ecosystems such as the Ebro delta, that would have suffered potentially huge damage from having large amounts of its water removed.



The Socialists originally promised to build coastal desalinisation plants instead, but I am not sure if these projects are underway yet or not.

Interestingly my college buddy (Spanish) sells desalinification technology in Spain. Seems to me he is doing pretty ok but I don't have the details.

[xan]

Not being an expert on hydrological matters it has always seemed strange to me that they cannot pipe water from the river mouth to where it is needed, i.e. take it out after it has done all the locals want/need. Possibly on grounds of cost? The paper reported earlier this year that in 3 months something like 4 times the required amount of water of the asked for transfer had been discharged from the River Ebro into the sea.


You, and the paper, are looking at things from a narrowly anthropocentric perspective. Estuaries are highly productive marine systems, but they need an influx of fresh water, and the nutrients it carries, to remain so. There is no point after which the water is "no longer needed" if one has concern for the continued functioning of natural systems (on which we all, ultimately, depend)

And of course there is the cost issue. The "trasvase de ebro" would have been hugely expensive, and would probably have implied large implicit subsidies for the continued wasteful uses of water in the drier regions of the Mediterranean coast. Conservation is always cheaper. The easiest way to encourage conservation of water? Raise the price. Make people pay the true value of the water, and they will use less. We have similar problems in the western US. Cheap, heavily subsidized water which is used wastefully in dry climates. Go to Las Vegas sometime and see the "venetian" fountains. We also have farmers in the great plains mining fossil ground water to grow really thirsty crops, like corn (maize to Brits). Crazy and it will all end badly. I do not know if similar drawdowns of groundwater are occuring in Murcia and Valencia, but I imagine so.

Natural limits must be respected. Las Vegas, and probably untrammeled urban growth in the driest regions of spain (the driest region of all Europe, in fact) are not sustainable. Las Vegas is a temporary phenomenon. So are golf courses in Murcia.

[greytop]

Interesting points Xan - good systemic thinking! Unfortunately, although there are some initiatives to reduce consumption (and this region is one of the better examples in Spain), the increased requirement for water is going to be met by desalination plants in many places, and even if there is no increase there is a decline in the resource available because of lower rainfall levels. These have a huge environmental impact, both in use of large quantities of electricity and effluent discharge into the marine environment.
A proposal for a local golf course in Pego states that most of the water will come from the outflow from the sewage treatment plant, but as you say this will detract from the normal flow into the rivers that feed the Mediterranean. There is already some concern that extracting deep well water will lower the water table and affect the flow into our fragile marsh and rice field system, home to many threatened species of fish and birds.

I think the real problem is too many people in the world! Maybe nature will step in and solve that for us if we don't get our act together.