The European Court of Justice has condemned Spain for not having protected Doñana from the plundering of water that it suffers continuously. In its judgment, delivered on Thursday, the Court stated that Spain had failed to comply with its obligations under the framework of the water directive in two aspects: first, Spain did not take into account the illegal withdrawal of water and the water withdrawal for urban supply when it estimated the groundwater withdrawals in the Doñana region, within the additional characterization of the 2015-2021 Guadalquivir Hydrological Plan.
Second, Spain did not foresee, within this Hydrological Plan’s program, any measure to avoid the alteration of the types of protected habitats located in the protected area of Doñana caused by the extraction of underground water to supply the tourist center of Matalascañas (Huelva).
The ruling does not carry an economic penalty, but it calls on Spain to comply with its obligations, according to European laws, as soon as possible, sources from the Court stated. In the event that the necessary measures are not taken, the European Commission could request the Curia to impose a fine on the Spanish state.
The ruling was made more than ten years after the WWF filed a complaint in the European Union. The European Commission opened a sanction file against Spain in 2014 and gave a second notice in April 2016. However, in January 2019, the deadlines ran out and the EU Executive took the case before the European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg.
The berry industry and the water problem
The water from the region’s aquifers is mainly extracted to irrigate the strawberry and berry industry. The draft of the new Guadalquivir Hydrological Plan that has just been published by the Ministry of Ecological Transition admits that Doñana is a reference natural space for international conservationism that coexists, with increasing difficulties, with a modern agricultural sector with high added value. It is also recognized that at least part of this industry has developed outside the planning norms, both hydrological and spatial, but that, nevertheless, is the main economic engine of a group of municipalities with more than 80,000 inhabitants.
The Hydrographic Confederation highlighted the governance crisis there is in the area, which prevents inspectors from exercising their surveillance functions. In September 2018, an agent had to be hospitalized after being harassed by a group of people, which denotes the atmosphere of fear imposed by the so-called water agro-pirates, the real thieves of the aquifers in Doñana.
Source: eldiario.es