Greenpeace puts a banner on the Cigüela aqueduct (Cuenca): "There is no water for so much irrigation"

Some 25 Greenpeace activists have traveled to the Cigüela aqueduct, in Cuenca, to denounce the country's “unsustainable” water policy and call for a “fair and urgent” water transition..

“Despite the fact that we have, and will have, less water available, the hydrological plans continue to increase the area of irrigation, in a country with 75% of the territory at risk of desertification”, they have warned in a press release.

They consider that the current hydraulic policy allows “short-term economic benefits, in fewer and fewer hands, at the cost of a serious environmental impact”.

Along with another huge 35 x 18 meter banner with the slogan 'Save Water', more than twenty activists have wanted to denounce the “lack of political responsibility in this major problem”..

Greenpeace has chosen the Cigüela aqueduct as an example of pharaonic hydraulic infrastructure -6.2 kilometers-, to which such priority has been given in the management of water in Spain and which “still continues to be claimed by some parties and lobbies”.

“The Tagus-Segura transfer, which circulates through this aqueduct, is oversizing irrigation in the Levante, ending a jewel of biodiversity such as the Mar Menor. Works like this are not a priority for the efficient management of water and leave aside the real problem, playing with false promises to obtain a handful of votes, against the real protection of the water environment,” they have denounced..

From this organization they consider that the survival of traditional and family agriculture is being put at risk, “to put it in the hands of large agro-industries and investment funds”, and fundamental enclaves for their biodiversity such as Doñana or Las Tablas de Daimiel are being harmed..

Unsustainability of extensive irrigation

Greenpeace has presented these days the report 'The irrigation bubble' that clearly warns of the unsustainability of the current intensive irrigation model: 16.23% of irrigation in Spain are in stressed areas, that is, with aquifers in poor quantitative condition and qualitative and in areas vulnerable to nitrate.

They warn that 13.8% of irrigated lands are in areas that affect protected natural areas and that the modernization of irrigation actually increases the irrigated area, generates changes towards more water-demanding crops and stimulates double or triple annual harvests , apart from the fact that it reduces the return of water.

🔴🔴ACTION🔴🔴
We unfurled two giant banners at the Tajo-Segura transfer.
THERE IS NO WATER FOR SO MUCH IRRIGATION
Our country dries up, but we irrigate an area the size of Switzerland.
We must transform the agri-food system, reduce irrigation and tell the truth to the public. pic.twitter.com/ifDPVUDgiq

– Greenpeace Spain (@greenpeace_esp) June 22, 2023

“We have little water but, on top of that, we export it, in the form of fruits, vegetables and meat, and we throw it away. In Spain we waste more than 1 million tons of food a year, about 130 liters of water lost per person per day,” they warned..

Greenpeace warns that, despite the rains this month, the dammed water still does not reach 47.5% this week and 44% of the aquifers are already in poor condition.

“With these serious data, it is incomprehensible that, between 2004 and 2021, irrigation, and only the “legal” ones for which there is data, have increased by 16%. There is a lack of control of the resource and policies without a climate strategy that only seek immediate economic benefit without understanding the seriousness of the water situation that we are going to have to face”.

“Our political leaders continue to promise water, a water that does not exist and that in the future will be even more scarce. We have to change the way we manage it and bet on a fair water transition. We are at stake to have drinking water, that our agriculture has a future and that we can maintain our biodiversity in the face of the consequences of climate change,” warned the head of Water at Greenpeace Spain, Julio Barea, from Cigüela.

After warning that the next droughts will be even more intense and prolonged, he considers that promising to expand irrigation is “a lie that all of society and our environment will pay for”.

The electoral campaign, time to know proposals

“The electoral campaign prior to 23-J is the moment for the parties to define their position on this problem and thus the electorate knows what are the proposals that protect water, people and ecosystems. Greenpeace appeals to the responsibility of citizens with respect to the different parties and how they propose to manage natural resources.

In addition to raising awareness among citizens with this Thursday's action, Greenpeace is also touring public fountains and toilets these days in more than 35 cities throughout Spain to alert the population about the danger of intensive irrigation, which takes almost 80% of our country's water.