Public participation and the role of social networks in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Spain

The Water Framework Directive establishes a common framework for EU water policy. One of its guiding principles is the promotion of public participation in water planning and management. In response to this requirement, River Basin Authorities are undertaking public participation and consultation processes as part of the elaboration of the Draft Basin Management Plans. This article describes and analyzes these processes, placing them in the context of wider public discussions and debates over water policy that have taken place in Spain over the past two decades. The paper argues that some of the strengths of Spanish WFD-related public participation processes derive from the significant improvement in the amount of information made available to the public, and from the relationships that are established between different stakeholder groups and between these and the water administration. On the other hand, the lack of credibility and legitimacy of some processes is related to the lack of political leadership and commitment to public participation, to insufficient inter-administrative cooperation, and to the persistence of parallel channels of communication between traditional water users and water managers. The paper also points to some potential areas of improvement such as the methodological design of public participation processes, a clarification of their impact on specific plans and proposals, and a search for tools to adequately inform and incorporate the wider public in water policy debates. Finally, the paper discusses the role that social networks, built around the ideas and goals of the New Water Culture, are playing in water policy debates by demanding more transparent and sustainable water policy decision making.Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua. Universidad de Zaragoza

Building a New Water Culture in Spain

For over 100 years, water policy and man­ agement in Spain have been instruments of economic and social transformation. Sig­ nificant public and private investments in water supply infrastructures have equipped Spain with over 1,200 major dams, 20 major desalination plants ? with more under construction ? and several inter­basin water transfers. The system has been apparently very successful, with an increase in overall water availability, strong associated eco­ nomic development and few urban water supply shortages. This success has been supported by a widespread consensus among a strong and largely closed water policy community made up of water manag­ ers, irrigators, electric (hydropower) utilities and developers

The water framework directive, paradigm shift or unrealized promises? A critical evaluation of its implementation from a boundary, economic and socio-political perspective

The approval of Directive 2000/60/EC, better known as the Water Framework Directive (WFD), resulted from efforts to create a coherent approach to water policy at the European scale. It requires surface waters (rivers, lakes, wetlands and transitional and coastal waters) to attain good ecological and chemical status and establishes quantitative and chemical standards for groundwater. The WFD required a significant shift in priorities, goals and operational procedures by placing the emphasis on ecosystem protection and ecological health as a means to guarantee the availability of sufficient good quality water to meet sustainable needs. By establishing the river basin as the pre-eminent geographical scale for water management, it also explicitly recognized that any policy aiming at protecting European waters necessarily had to deal with the policies that guided activities in the surrounding watershed. The discussion and approval of the WFD coincided with a growing debate about, and advocacy for, a paradigm shift in water management. The shift was the expression, in the field of water resources management, of a transformation in the way we understand the relationship between society and nature, reflecting changes in other realms of our socioeconomic environment. The new approach results from the need to acknowledge the hybrid nature of water, emphasizing the complexity of the ecological, socioeconomic, technological, cultural and institutional processes that are intertwined in discourses and understandings of water. Claims about the legitimacy of intervention no longer reside exclusively in the realms of authority and privileged knowledge. Rather, legitimacy now depends on shared definitions of both problem and potential solutions. The evolving water management paradigm thus results from the fact that we are dealing with complex and reflexive socioecological systems and there are diverse incommensurable and equally valid interpretations of our physical environments. In the context of uncertainty, complexity, differing world views and high stakes that characterize water management challenges, new governance approaches have been offered as panaceas to effectively handle them. Most significant among them is the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), which promotes the principles of integration, participatory management approaches, and the use of economic instruments to achieve water policy goals. The WFD is perhaps the most comprehensive and far reaching attempt to align water management policy and practice along these principles. An evaluation of its implementation can therefore throw some light on the potential for these management prescriptions to successfully deal with the challenges that are inherent to problems of complex socio-ecological systems This dissertation contributes to a significant body of scholarly work that has studied the European experience with the WFD by critically analyzing the experience of its implementation from three complementary theoretical perspectives that refer three of the four pillars of the WFD: the scalar choices that derive from the application of the IWRM approach to water resources management that the WFD embodies; the use of economic instruments to achieve water policy goals; and the emphasis on public information, consultation and participation to legitimize water planning and management decisions and improve the effectiveness of the Directive. Through the analysis of the geographically specific case of Spain, it questions the underlying assumptions that justify this approach to European water governance and tries to discern whether the policy goals have been met. The analysis is presented through three articles that have been published in peer reviewed academic journals and a fourth publication, of a more normative nature, that reviews the evolution of water policy in Spain with a particular focus on the post-WFD implementation period. The first article (Chapter 4) summarizes the state of the art of the current debate on scalar politics and water governance. In this context, the paper reviews the territorial and organizational evolution of river basin authorities in Spain, since their origins in 1926 as Confederaciones Sindicales Hidrográficas, to their situation in 2015, in light of the current critical approach to the river basin as the unquestionable scale for water governance. It analyzes the complex process of adjustment of the river basin management approach to the politicaladministrative division of the state into increasingly powerful Autonomous regions that emerged with the advent of democracy in the 1970s, and the ensuing reconfiguration of areas of influence, division of authority, and emergence of power conflicts that are still unresolved. The paper argues that when discussing 'spatial fit' issues dealing with natural resources management, special attention should be given to ensuing changes in social relationships and power structures that each option entails, within their specific historical and geographical context. The second article (Chapter 5) discusses the way economic instruments are being promoted as a desirable alternative to public sector action in the allocation and management of natural resources. The case of water is at the vanguard of these processes and is proving to be particularly contentious. In the European Union water policies are increasingly emphasizing the application of economic instruments to improve the allocative equity and economic efficiency in the use of scarce resources. However, there are few analyses of how these instruments are really working on the ground and whether they are meeting their objectives. The paper aims to contribute to this debate by critically analyzing the experience with water markets in Spain, the only country in the European Union where they are operative. It looks at water permit sales during the 2005-2008drought period using the Tajo-Segura transfer infrastructure. The paper describes how the institutional process of mercantilización of water works in practice in Spain. It shows that the use of markets requires an intense process of institutional development to facilitate and encourage their operation. Additionally it argues that these institutions tend to favor the interests of clearly identifiable elites, instead of the public interest they supposedly promote. The third article (Chapter 6) looks at the shift from hierarchical-administrative water management toward more transparent, multi-level and participated governance approaches that has brought about a shifting geography of players, scales of action, and means of influencing decisions and outcomes. In Spain, where the hydraulic paradigm has dominated since the early 1920s, participation in decisions over water was traditionally limited to a closed water policy community, made up of economic water users, primarily irrigator associations and hydropower generators, civil engineering corps and large public works companies. The river basin planning process under the WFD presented a promise of transformation, giving access to non-economic water users, environmental concerns and the wider public to water-related information on planning and decision-making. This process coincided with the consolidation of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by the water administration, with the associated potential for information and data generation and dissemination. ICTs are also increasingly used by citizen groups and other interested parties as a way to communicate, network and challenge existing paradigms and official discourses over water, in the broader context of the emergence of 'technopolitics'. The paper investigates if and in what way ICTs may be providing new avenues for participated water resources management and contributing to alter the dominating power balance. We critically analyze several examples where networking possibilities provided by ICTs have enabled the articulation of interest groups and social agents (what we call citizen water networks - CWN) that have, with different degrees of success, questioned the existing hegemonic view over water. The critical review of these cases sheds light on the opportunities and limitations of ICTs, and their relation with traditional modes of social mobilization in creating new means of societal involvement in water governance. It also shows that the low democratic profile of current water management institutions in Spain clearly hinders ICTs' potential to democratize decision-making processes. Without a real willingness to open up true spaces of deliberation where all actors can participate in conditions of equality, the role of ICTs will remain one of strengthening CWNs' organizational capabilities and ability to obtain and generate information, but will not alter the basic framework for water policy-making. The final article (Chapter 7) complements the more theoretical focus of the previous chapters and from a normative perspective analyzes the evolution of Spanish water policy since the approval of the 1985 Water act. It focuses on the post-WFD implementation period (from 2003 onwards) and on the role economic water users, environmental interests and engaged citizens have played in the achievement of some key WFD-related water policy goals: environmental objectives; public and user participation in water planning and management; and use of economic instruments to achieve water policy goals. Relying on a review of different examples and experiences, the paper concludes that the necessary transformation in water policy goals, operations and procedures required by the implementation of the WFD has not taken place. The traditional water policy community has resisted this transformation and largely continues to dominate water policy decision-making. At the same time, in the context of the WFD a variety of citizen water networks that defend the patrimonial values of water have developed and consolidated and can play a significant role in the consecution of this transformation. In any case, the reforms along the three key WFD-axis analyzed have been more formal than substantial, and the key decisions over water continue to respond to the interests and priorities of the traditional water policy community

Nuevos debates sobre escalas en política de aguas. Estado, cuencas hidrográficas y comunidades autónomas en España

El artículo comienza sintetizando el estado del debate sobre las políticas de escala en la gestión de los recursos naturales en general y del agua en particular. Con este telón de fondo, se revisa la evolución jurídica, territorial y organizativa de los organismos de cuenca en España, desde su creación con la denominación de Confederaciones Sindicales Hidrográficas en 1926 hasta su situación en 2015, a la luz de las actuales aproximaciones críticas a la consideración de la cuenca como unidad incuestionable para la gestión del agua. Los autores sostienen que cuando se discute sobre el ‘ajuste espacial’ de la gestión de recursos naturales se debe prestar una especial atención a los cambios en las relaciones sociales y las estructuras de poder que cada opción, en su contexto histórico y geográfico concreto, implica

Direct and indirect economic impacts of drought in the agri-food sector in the Ebro River basin (Spain).

The economic evaluation of drought impacts is essential in order to define efficient and sustainable management and mitigation strategies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the economic impacts of a drought event on the agricultural sector and measure how they are transmitted from primary production to industrial output and related employment. We fit econometric models to determine the magnitude of the economic loss attributable to water storage. The direct impacts of drought on agricultural productivity are measured through a direct attribution model. Indirect impacts on agricultural employment and the agri-food industry are evaluated through a nested indirect attribution model. The transmission of water scarcity effects from agricultural production to macroeconomic variables is measured through chained elasticities. The models allow for differentiating the impacts deriving from water scarcity from other sources of economic losses. Results show that the importance of drought impacts are less relevant at the macroeconomic level, but are more significant for those activities directly dependent on water abstractions and precipitation. From a management perspective, implications of these findings are important to develop effective mitigation strategies to reduce drought risk exposure

Participación pública e inercia institucional en la gestión del agua en España

Los procesos de participación pública implementados a raíz de la Directiva Marco del Agua (DMA) constituyen un importante salto adelante para la democratización de la gestión del agua en España. En el presente texto, a partir de un análisis documental y entrevistas exploratorias, se señalan algunas de las virtudes y debilidades de dichos procesos. En general, se observa que los puntos más problemáticos tienen que ver con la inercia institucional que conforma las relaciones entre los organismos de cuenca y los usuarios tradicionales del agua, así como con la falta de credibilidad que algunos de estos procesos han tenido para algunos de sus potenciales participantes. Como conclusión se advierte la necesidad de pensar nuevos diseños institucionales que respondan a la idea de gobernanza expresada por la DMA.The public participation processes that are taking place in Spain as a result of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) constitutes an important step forward toward the democratization of water management in Spain. Grounded on document analysis and exploratory interviews, this article highlights some of its strengths and weaknesses. In general, the most problematic aspects of these processes are related to their lack of credibility for some potential participants, as well the persistence of an institutional setup for water decision making that strongly favors the long-standing relationship between Basin Management Agencies and traditional water users. The article offers some concluding remarks on the need for a reformed institutional desing for the management of water resources, according to the idea of governance expressed by the WFD

Diseño de una nueva regla de explotación hiperanual para los embalses de cabecera del Tajo

El presente trabajo contiene un análisis histórico de las reglas de explotación del trasvase Tajo-Segura. Se estudia el contexto en el que surgen, las modificaciones introducidas, así como el resultado técnico y social de su aplicación. Con detalle, se evalúa el diseño de la regla de explotación actualmente vigente, especificada en el Real Decreto 773/2014. Tras su evaluación, en esta regla de explotación se detectan una serie de errores técnicos, pero también legales, que desaconsejan su continuidad, especialmente el incumplimiento de la Directiva Marco del Agua. Por ello, se concluye con una propuesta de regla de explotación radicalmente diferente, empleando el carácter hiperanual de los embalses de cabecera del Tajo. El objetivo de esta nueva regla es estabilizar los recursos superficiales totales (propios más externos) de la cabecera del Segura respetando a su vez los condicionantes de la cuenca cedente, la del Tajo, cuyas garantías deben estar plenamente garantizadas

Las Comunidades de Usuarios de aguas subterráneas en la Mancha Occidental : una propuesta de reforma

El presente estudio continúa con la línea de investigaciones que se han producido sobre la gestión del agua subterránea en el Alto Guadiana en las últimas décadas, pero centrándose en un tema poco analizado en detalle: el funcionamiento de las Comunidades de Regantes (CCRR). Así, El objetivo general de este estudio es realizar un análisis actualizado y exhaustivo de la gestión de las aguas subterráneas en el acuífero de la Mancha Occidental a través de una investigación sobre el funcionamiento de las CCRR. Trataremos con ello de poner de relieve las debilidades y carencias que tienen actualmente, así como las oportunidades y fortalezas, para subsanar las primeras y potenciar las segundas en una propuesta de reforma para mejorar la gestión de las aguas subterráneas. Para ello, la metodología utilizada ha sido la siguiente: en un primer momento se realiza una revisión bibliográfica para encontrar un punto de partida. Seguidamente se mantienen entrevistas personales con nueve expertos en la materia analizada y posteriormente, se recoge toda la información posible de las propias CCRR a través de un breve cuestionario que se realizó a todas ellas (20 en total) y de entrevistas personales con los Presidentes de diez Comunidades estratégicamente elegidas. Con toda esta información, ha sido posible realizar una caracterización de las CCRR y un análisis de la situación en las que se encuentran actualmente (análisis D.A.F.O.), como paso previo a la propuesta de reforma que planteamos. Actualmente existen 20 Comunidades de Regantes en el acuífero de la Mancha Occidental organizadas por términos municipales y una Comunidad General de Usuarios del Acuífero 23 que agrupa a las 20 Comunidades de base, pero que en la actualidad ha dejado de ejercer sus funciones por falta de medios económicos. Están constituidas por todos los usuarios de aprovechamientos legalmente inscritos en el Organismo de Cuenca, principalmente regantes, que suman 16.561 comuneros, 26.234 captaciones y 204.665 hectáreas de regadío, (datos aportados por las propias CCRR) lo que da idea de la dificultad de gestión de este acuífero. Este fue uno de los principales motivos por los que se decidió organizar las CCRR por términos municipales, para facilitar la gestión. No obstante existen grandes diferencias entre ellas, debido sobre todo a su tamaño, ya que las Comunidades más grandes cuentan con más recursos económicos y más personal que las pequeñas. Sin embargo todas ellas funcionan de una manera parecida, asemejándose en muchos casos a simples gestorías ya que sus funciones se centran en los expedientes administrativos de los pozos, dejando de lado las funciones de guardería, policía etc. En cuanto a su financiación depende de las cuotas que cobran a los comuneros, que consideran insuficientes por lo que reclaman mayor apoyo económico de la administración. El análisis de la situación actual de las Comunidades de Regantes en la Mancha Occidental nos ha permitido obtener un conocimiento contrastado y válido de la realidad. Son muchas las Debilidades de las CCRR; excesivo número y pequeño tamaño de las mismas que favorece la atomización de los recursos económicos, el sesgo en las funciones orientadas hacia la defensa de los intereses de los regantes sobre el interés general del acuífero, la escasa participación de los usuarios, la falta de transparencia informativa o la deficiente regulación normativa. Las amenazas son el propio carácter de los agricultores, la falta de información y conocimiento por parte de los usuarios y las implicaciones políticas e influencias sindicales sobre las CCRR. En el lado opuesto de la balanza cabe destacar las fortalezas y oportunidades. Las fortalezas las constituyen un uso racional del recurso, el carisma del presidente de la Comunidad, el gran potencial que tienen las CCRR y el acercamiento que se ha producido en los últimos años entre éstas y el Organismo de Cuenca. Por último las oportunidades de futuro las constituyen el apoyo del organismo Consorcio Alto Guadiana, el giro hacia una agricultura más tradicional de secano, la posibilidad de celebrar contratos de cesión de derechos de uso de agua y convenios con la administración y la evolución de los usuarios a favor de una adecuada gestión del acuífero. Nuestra propuesta de Reforma, tomando como base la información anterior, consiste en reorganizar la estructura actual de veinte CCRR en tres Comunidades de Usuarios por Masa de Agua Subterránea (CUMAS). Propuesta que justificamos a través de la implantación de una serie de programas de actuaciones: programa económico (independencia económica a través de cuotas satisfechas por los usuarios por hectárea y m3) inventario de regadíos mediante SIG, programa de formación, sensibilización y participación, medidas de comunicación, planes de cultivo y programa de control y seguimiento de las extracciones (instalación de contadores), todas ellas desarrolladas por personal técnico cualificado. Consideramos que nuestra propuesta puede contribuir a mejorar la gestión del acuífero estudiado y al mismo tiempo, adaptar la gestión de las aguas subterráneas a la Directiva Marco del Agua

The role of the Water Framework Directive in the controversial transition of water policy paradigms in Spain and Portugal

The process of drafting, approving and implementing the Water Framework Directive (WFD) has played a pivotal role in the water-related political agenda of the Iberian Peninsula. The WFD has provided an institutional impetus for a shift from the dominant hydraulic paradigm towards a new water governance approach. The new approach, known as the New Water Culture (NWC), predated the WFD. It was initiated in Spain and Portugal in the 1990s and has been promoted by a coalition of academics, social activists, and water managers. Given the long tradition and relevance of water debates in Spain and Portugal, the sociopolitical and territorial conflicts surrounding the implementation of the new regulatory framework are of particular significance. Legal debates about the (in)correct transposition of the WFD into Spanish and Portuguese legislation are still unresolved. Legal debates about the (in)correct transposition of the WFD into Spanish and Portuguese legislation are still unresolved. Controversies focus on issues such as the use of economic instruments, for instance cost recovery and the use of public subsidies (a key component of the hydraulic paradigm), as well as the role of public participation in decision making processes. Significant resistance has been mounted by the traditional water policy community, which continues to dominate power structures surrounding water. Throughout the long WFD implementation process, conflicting views and interests have consistently emerged with regard to the diagnosis and identification of existing pressures and the definition, evaluation and implementation of the proposed measures. Controversies have also emerged around the extensive use of exceptions which has allowed the hydraulic paradigm to persist over time. Progress towards the promised governance model, however, is taking place, with significant improvements in transparency, more accurate knowledge regarding the aquatic ecosystems services and the inclusion in water management agencies of more diverse experts including social scientists, biologists and geologists. This paper looks at the role the WFD implementation process is playing in the struggle for the transformation of water policy in Spain and Portugal. It examines this through the lens of the NWC movement

Information and Knowledge for Water Governance in the Networked Society

In the last few years, parallel evolutionary processes in the socio-political, governmental and technological arenas have been providing new pathways for the collaborative generation, coordination and distribution of polycentric information. From a technological perspective, the proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has boosted the availability of information about our planet, along with its storage, processing and dissemination capabilities. The Worldwide Web and satellite and electronic sensors combined with smart phone technologies have also opened new means for social, political and scientific innovation. From a socio-political standpoint, the implementation of policies that encourage the reutilisation of data and protect the right to information of interested parties, together with growing social demands for transparency, have resulted in an increasing number of governments drawing strategies to open up public data. In this context, this paper addresses two main topics that we deem will be key drivers for improved water governance in the near future. First, it discusses new practices of collaborative and distributed generation and disclosure of information for water governance, and the resulting challenges and opportunities afforded by the use of ICTs. Second, it looks at the interplay between the uptake of ICTs and institutional frameworks, social dynamics and technological structures within which they operate to understand the extent to which ICTs affect decision-making processes and contribute to creating alternative spaces for the production of common services or alternative discourses. Despite the advances in open data policies, findings suggest that there remain significant challenges to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by ICTs, mostly derived from the structural conditions of existing models of decision-making, and information generation and management. It seems that the potentialities of ICTs as transformative tools are conditioned by the regeneration of the context within which decisions are made, that is, the democratic process itself