|
Issue 126:
09/05/08 - 22/05/08 |
WELCOME to the FRONT PAGE |
The presidents of the regions of Murcia, Valencia and Andalucia, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, Francisco Camps and Javier Arenas, have joined forces to demand water transfers be put in place by the national government of Spain.
These Partido Popular presidents have encouraged their region’s mayors to join together thus putting more political weight behind their campaign, which wants to see water from the river Ebro brought down to the drought stricken coastal areas of south east Spain. The Mayor of Orihuela, Monica Lorente, played host to 300 P.P. mayors, as they descended on the coastal municipality to promote their cause “Alcades por el agua” (Mayors for Water). Apart from the obvious need for water in the regions of Murcia, Valencia and Andalucia, Monica Lorente has pointed out that this is also an equal rights issue, “The women of these three regions will not stand by and let this happen. We will shout out at the top of our voices for our rights because the equal rights laws should be applied in Rodriguez Zapatero’s government’s water policies. This affects our future and our rights to run businesses, which is why we are asking for total equality.” Whilst this is an interesting spin on the issue it obviously does not just affect the right of females to run a business in the south east of Spain, but also threatens many industries including agriculture, tourism, construction and recreation.
After appealing on numerous occasions to the national government to allow water transfer from the River Ebro (originally planned under previous Partido Popular Prime Minister Aznar’s term) to go ahead but to no avail the regional presidents have decided that a joint effort may have a greater influence on the P.S.O.E Prime Minister Zapatero.
The Alcades por el agua want water to be piped to the dry areas in Levante and the south east of the country from the Ebro river to the south of Barcelona and have promised to keep the pressure up on the Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatrero, until an amicable solution is reached.
The Prime Minister is against the transfer of water from the Ebro and has instead favoured a programme of desalination plants that rely on processing seawater into drinking water, albeit at a higher cost. This has been largely disputed by the agricultural industry, which claims that the cost of the water from the desalination plant (which is more expensive than reservoir water) would be too high, making it pointless to continue with their businesses.
The Murcian Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Cerda, believes that the water transfer from the Ebro stands a better chance now that Cristina Narbona is no longer in charge of the Ministry of the Environment. This position is now held by Elena Espinosa and according to Antonio Cerda, “Where before there was a wall, now there is an open door.”
It is yet to be seen whether or not this coalition of mayors and presidents will be able to resolve the ongoing water issues in these very popular tourist destinations.
|
|
|
