Spanish Government Resists Regional Push To Control Rivers - Reuters

MADRID - Spain will resist attempts by the country's restive regional governments to win control over scarce water resources and will keep rivers under state management, the director general of water said on Wednesday. With the current drought well into its second year and regional elections looming, many of Spain's autonomous regions are pushing for more say over their water reserves.


The central government has already said "no" to Catalonia and Valencia, but now half a dozen other regions have said they want to control the rivers that run through their territory.

"The red line is the Spanish constitution and that says that when river basins are split between regions the state is the referee," Jaime Palop told Reuters in an interview. Several government attempts to distribute excess water between regions have failed.

"For a long time people thought we had plenty of water and if you needed more you only had to build a dam. What has changed now is that we've realised water is scarce," Palop said. "That has led to territorial tensions that split society."

Farmers or business groups in central provinces that have more water for example will fight transfers to their peers in the dry southeast. Regions can control the smaller rivers that start and finish within their borders but the state plans to remain firmly in charge of all the shared river basins.

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