Shock Plan: Objectives: Water savings
Farmers are the most important consumers of water in Spain and almost 63,3% of the total
of all water consumed is used for irrigation purposes. One of the foremost objectives
of the National Shock Plan is to promote water savings of up to 1,162 Hm3/year, by
converting the image of a traditional irrigation system entailing water loss and
pollution into that of an excellent system of water management that will ensure the
sustainability of the environment.
To achieve this, the aim is to optimise the use of the available water by taking action such as modernising the water transport, distribution and application systems on the plots, selecting crop varieties that require less water or using alternative hydrological resources to conventional ones, such as desalted water and recycled water.
The objectives of these actions is not only to obtain water savings in the area in
which actions are to be carried out, but it is also considered necessary to go even
further in modernising our irrigation systems by incorporating the information society
into the irrigation methods, through implanting modern communications technologies
among farmers in the rural environment with the aim of achieving greater and more
economical irrigation efficacy.
The idea is to eliminate the dichotomy of the modern, high-tech irrigation of more competitive facilities and the obsolete, ineffective irrigation systems that lead to enormous losses of such a scarce commodity as water.
On the other hand, modernising irrigation systems means creating quality employment that will be capable of managing irrigation water in a different way and the development of a powerful services sector linked to the agro-industrial system associated to irrigation. The diversification of the employment characteristics will make it possible for workers of all kinds to be employed, both men and women, and will most certainly help to stabilise the population and improve the living standards of all the zones affected.
A total of 2,344 million euros will be invested, affecting 866,898 ha and 291,024
farmers. The maximum finance available, which will be provided by the two Ministries
involved (the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Ministry of the
Environment) will amount to 1,873 million €, with users making up the difference
to reach the total planned investment figure.
All these efforts made by the Government are complemented by the interest shown by the farmers themselves in maintaining the competitiveness of our irrigation systems to reach maximum hydrological efficiency and are in keeping with the water management focus assumed by the new Water Directive Framework, which is an essential foundation for the European legal system on water management. The basic objective of this is to recuperate and preserve the healthy ecological conditions of hydrological ecosystems.
