Intensive groundwater use in Spain

Groundwater use in Spain is an important socioeconomic resource, both as a factor of production in agriculture and industry, and as a source of drinking water. The primary use of groundwater is for irrigation. In Spain, the direct economic benefits of groundwater use greatly outweigh the direct costs of obtaining that water, even when these are very high. The Spanish 1985 Water Act, and its 1999 reform, attempted to deal with the negative consequences of unplanned and intensive groundwater developments by significantly altering the institutional context for the management of groundwater resources. Groundwater user associations are called to play a significant role in the new framework. There exist some examples of successful groundwater user associations and effective cooperation between users and water authorities, but they are still few. The case of the Western Mancha aquifer is reviewed as a paradigmatic example of intensive groundwater use in Spain.