ARCHIVED - Desalinated water subsidies provide a partial solution for Murcia and Alicante farmers

Subsidies are provided for users of water desalinated at Torrevieja and Valdelentisco

Despite the reaching of an agreement last week between the Ministry of Agriculture and the desalination plants in Torrevieja (Alicante) and Valdelentisco (Region of Murcia) by which the cost to farmers of using desalinated water was reduced, there is still considerable concern that the price of this water could remain prohibitive. 

Isabel García Tejerina, the Minister of Agriculture, announced at a joint press conference with Pedro Antonio Sánchez, the president of the regional government in Murcia, that 8 million euros was to be spent on the subsidies to alleviate the effects of the long-running drought in the Segura basin, which includes the Region of Murcia and the Vega Baja area of Alicante. 6 million euros will be used to reduce the price of 30 cubic hectometers of water desalinated in Torrevieja to 30 cents per cubic metre, and the other 2 million euros will bring the price of another 20 hm3 from Valdelentisco down by 10 cents from the current price of 47 cents (Valdelentisco is the most expensive of the plants currently run by Acuamed). 

Special permission has had to be sought from the European Commission for these subsidies to be provided because the desalination plants were originally financed by EU funds, and this has been granted on account of the exceptional drought being suffered over the last two years in the south-east if Spain.

The Minister also announced that further investment is required to improve the distribution of desalinated water, and that in this vein a pipe is to be installed to transport water from the Águilas plant to Lorca and Totana. This is one of the emergency drought measures already put in place by the government at a total cost of 30 million euros.

Sra García Tejerina praised the Region of Murcia for its “exemplary” record in reducing water consumption and pledged to guarantee the supply of water in the medium and long terms. During 2016 the construction of two new dams and reservoirs is planned in Lébor and Moreras, and the Camarillas reservoir is to be brought back into service. 

Reaction to these measures has been positive but, in some quarters, guarded. Elena Cebrián, the regional minister for Agriculture and the Environment in the Comunidad Valenciana, sees the cheapening of desalinated water as a tacit acceptance of desalination plants as a valid alternative to natural water supplies, but regrets that she and her government were not consulted before deciding on the pricing policy at Torrevieja. 

Irrigation farmers, meanwhile, are pleased that their situation has been brought to the attention of the national government, but are adamant that the cost to their businesses of using desalinated water is still too high to be viable. Farmers in Almería are especially aggrieved at the fact that they have not been included in the subsidies for Valdelentisco.

Farmers in the Vega Baja area of Alicante are also upset that the CHS has refused to close off the drought wells which have been in use to supplement supplies recently, despite concerns over the quality of the water being provided.

But for Pedro Antonio Sánchez, the concessions made by the national government represent a political triumph. On becoming the president of the Murcia government after May’s election he pledged to alleviate the effects of the drought for farmers in the Region, and it now appears that he has managed to do so. Agriculture accounts for 5.3% of the GDP of the Region of Murcia and supplies over 100,000 jobs, and the end product is that 30% of the fruit and vegetables exported by Spain are from the Region.

This sector of the regional economy would shrink drastically if the water supply were threatened, and the announcements made by Sra García Tejerina have managed to at least partially calm the fears of farmers throughout Murcia and the Vega Baja.

The farmers, however, are not convinced, and already there are discussions taking place to stage a series of protests about the current price of agricultural water.