Since 1980, Spain's average available water has decreased by 12 percent and projections indicate that by 2050 there may be a further decrease of between 14 and 40 percent. The government has announced a new water management plan, but it has caused regional tensions with the farming community in the arid southeast which relies on the precious resource for their industry.
One measure that the government is implementing is to raise the minimum flow of the River Tagus to protect its ecological future. That measure, however, threatens the livelihood of thousands of growers in the southeast of Spain.
According to Jose Vicente Andreu, president of the ASAJA farmers association in Alicante, this might be disastrous for what's known as the 'Garden of Europe'. Oranges, strawberries, watermelons, peppers, lettuce, cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli: more than 60 percent of all of Spain's fruit and vegetable exports come from the region.
The regional job losses across the Valencia, Murcia and Almeria regions could be even greater, with around 25,000 livelihoods under threat. The Tagus river has been supplying the Segura river with water since the 1930s via the Tagus-Segura Transfer - one of Spain's largest ever hydraulic projects.
