Review for building knowledge database and consensus report on recommendation on wlaw
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7.4Foundations for a new water policy.The traditional understanding of the term hydraulic policy is currently insufficient to include all the requirements and uncertainties of our society and to give adequate answers to all water problems. The search for a balance between economic growth and the limits and capacities of the natural environment, in a way that guarantees its conservation in the mid and long term, forces us to make a turn in the definition of the policy goals. Currently, the term "water policy" is more widely used. Having a multidisciplinay and integrating character, it is understood as the actions performed by the Public Administrations, at different levels and fields, that affect the development, allocation, preservation and management of hydrological resources. The inspiring principle of this water policy is the desire to reach a rational use of water in terms of sustainability. Currently, water policy is considered a complex concept that incorporates all actions related with, on one hand, the use of the resource, in its double facet of consumption good and production factor, considering its quantitative and qualitative aspects, and on the other hand, the management of the public hydraulic domain, but understanding it as an integrating part of the natural hydrological environment that we need to conserve, protect and improve. The search for mechanisms that contribute to this goal lays in different foundations, as: (i) Legislative; (ii) Environmental; (iii) Economic; (iv) Sociopolitical and (v) technical basis. Legislative foundations. Right now, there is a search for the new instruments that will allow for the correction of the problems identified, such as: (i) management of the aquatic environment and associated ecosystems; (ii) control of authorizations and concessions systems; (iii) economic-financial regime of hydrological resources; (iv) extreme situations management and (v) adjustment of the Hydraulic Administration to the new challenges. Regarding the Environmental foundations, the inclusion of the environment in the new plans implies the appearance of specific difficulties when dealing with management in terms of sustainability. It is essential for the new water policy to count with well-done Environmental Impact Assessments, which can be an important tool if used correctly. To maintain the current environment is the only mean society has to make sure their wealth will not reduce the options available for future generations. From an economic perspective, and the experiences of the implementation of the current economic and financial water regime, we can say that this regime can be improved so the user can perceive and be aware of the real costs of his actions for the rest of the society. The complexity and multiplicity of aspects to be considered in the management of hydrological resources show the variety of economic instruments that can be used, which cover: (i) the use of economic incentives to improve the allocation of resources; (ii) regulation through fixed rules and (iii) establishing standar values that are considered satisfactory in relation to the most significant parameters in water management and execution of project with objectives that are specifically environmental (works to correct the impact of the environment, regeneration of valuable natural spaces, etc.). Regarding the Socio-political foundations, there are some foundations in the current legislative framework that are not ignored as important references in the new water policy. These judgments and valuations are part of the public conscious and have its roots in the costumes, cultures and myths of every town. Public participation mechanisms permit that this variable is taken into account in the decision making process, ensuring an innovative social management of water. In technical basis, in addition to the progress made in the location, development and exploitation processes of new water sources (regulation, combined use of surface and ground waters, reuse, desalinization and transfers between basins), and the improvement of estimation procedures and methodologies (databases and simulation and optimization models, among others) other measures are being studied for the management of the water demand (programs to reduce loses in infrastructures, to promote water saving, efficiency, management, etc.). It is worth highlighting the large potential of the direct reuse of purified wastewaters and the desalinization of marine and brackish waters. Regarding the reuse of treated wastewaters, it is remarkable the actual Royal Decree 1620/2007 where is regulated the legal regime for reuse of these waters according to different uses: urban, agricultural, industrial, recreational and environmental (Spanish Ministry of the Presidence, 2007c). On the other hand the integration of surface and ground waters in schemes of joint exploitation is other alternative currently in consideration, although there are certain limiting factors, as: (i) natural; (ii) economic and (iii) related to the existing hydraulic infraestructures) that make it difficult to put into practice this option. These new grounds, inspires of the new water policy that gains legislative value with the WFD, are materialized in the Spanish water policy through the Programa Agua (Water Program) (Spanish Ministry of Environment. (2004). 7.5Key elements of the new water policy.7.5.1. The WFD (2000/60/EC)The Water Program entails a redirection of the water policy in Spain, a new direction that occurs in the middle of the adjustment process to the WFD, that implies a new management model. This is the most important regulation on water policy in the European Union countries. It establishes criteria for water protection, to prevent its pollution, to promote its sustainable use, to protect the environment, to lessen the effect of droughts or fllods and to improve the status of aquatic ecosystems. The main goal of the WFD is the maintenance and improvement of the aquatic environment in the European Union, and compels the Member States to reach a good ecological and chemical status of all water bodies (groundwater, surface, coastal and transitional waters), as well as to take into consideration all the social and environmental costs of the use of the water in pre-established timelines. The WFD principles the Spanish water policy should be based on are: (i) Sustaibability; (ii) Subsidiary; (iii) Effectiveness and (iv) Participation. The sustainability Principle (no deterioration) is based on: (i) to prevent damages; (ii) to protect and improve the status of aquatic ecosystems and (iii) the integrated management at the watershed level to improve the ecological status. Estuaries, deltas and coastal waters are included. The Subsidiary Principle is based on the principle that decisions must be adopted as closet to the problem as possible. On the other hand, the Effectiveness Principle is based on: (i) to determinate sufficiently detailed and justified previsions of costs and prices; (ii) to apply combinations of measures with the best cost/effectiveness relationship and (iii) to estimate and recover real costs, including the environmental and shortage ones. Finally, the Participation Principle is based on: (i) to ensure transparency in the information and decisions and (ii) to facilitate active participation of all the actors. The key points of the WFD would be: (i) we will only have safe and healthy water supply if our aquatic ecosystems are also safe and helathy; (ii) the main goal of the water policy should be to improve the ecological status of aquatic ecosystems and (iii) the ecological status is defined al four leves (physical-chemical condition- water quality, quantitative state- river flows and other water bodies, biological condition- fauna and flora diversity, river flows and banks and finally morphodynamic processes- erosion, transport and sedimentation. In 2015, all water bodies in the European Union should be un a "good ecological status". The trasposition od the WFD to the Spanish regulation was made through the Law 62/2003 on fiscal, administrative and social measures, accompanying law to the Government´s General Budget for 2004. It is the modification of the adapted text of the Water Law. The improvement in the exchange of information between States is one of the key actions. For this reason, a public access platform, WFD Circa, has been created with valuable information on the process, and regular meetings are organized to specify agrrements such as the commitment for the sustainability of the Mediterranean, subscribed by Spain to defend the historic, cultural and climatic singularity of this zone in the elaboration os a common water policy. 7.5.2. Reform of the Basin Organizations.To fulfil the goals of the WFD, the new management policy of the Spanish Government has to implement a reform to the Basin Organizations. The objective is to change the traditional priorities and promotion measures of hydraulic works by the environmental management of hydrological ecosystems, which will demand a new approach that is multidisciplinary, more transparent and open to the citizenship. This reform is not only directed to a new water management model but it is also aimed a greater implication of the Regional Governments in the management of hydrological resources. 7.5.3. Agriculture: modernization of irrigation.80% percent of Spanish hydrological resources assigned to agriculture, where irrigation is a key piece: it contributes more than 50% of the final agricultural production and uses up to 13% of the useful agricultural land. Currently, Spain has almost four million hectares of irrigated land. Losses in conduction and distribution depend on great part on the state and characteristics of the infrastructures, it is convenient to rehabilitate and modernize the irrigation schemes. For this reason, the Spanish Government implemented emergency measures as the National Plan on Irrigation with the following objectives: (i) to rationalize water consumption through efficient technology; (ii) to improve the landscape from a social and an environmental perspective and (iii) To increase productivity. These improvements imply the need for investment, capacity building and commitment of all the interested actors, that is, the Government and the farmers with water use rights. The expected results of the Modernization of the 2006-2007 Irrigation Plan, from the Ministries of Environment and Agriculture, Fishing and Food are; (i) to prevent the overexploitation of aquifers; (ii) to control spills and soil degradation; (iii) recover wetlands; (iv) fight desertification and (v) prevent migration through improving the quality of life of rural people. 7.5.4. Optimization of the urban distribution networks.In a goal demographic expansion context, the challenges of the urban supply management include anticipating future provision requirements in regards to the water extraction and the adequate maintenance of the network. The objectives would be the following; (i) to improve control of the water generated and supplied; (ii) to adapt facilites; and (iii) to reform and improve the water network, consumption management and incorporate technology into the process. 7.5.5. Sanitation, purification and reuse.According to the European Directive on urban waste water treatment (91/271/EC) (1991), the Sanitation and Purification Plan 1995-2005 (Spanish Ministry of Environment, 1995) foresaw the purification of drainages from urban populations of more than 2,000 inhabitants equivalent before December 31st, 2005. This plan was established as a financial model to pay for the investment costs; however, regional deficiencies have not allowed a full compliance of the requirements of the Directive, which can bring significant sanctions for Spain. Furthermore, several European regulations on water quality, approved after 1995, call for an important complementary investment effort from the Public Administrations. In Fig. 1 is showed the actions in sanitation and purification during the application of this plan. 
Fig. 1. Actions in sanitation and purification during the application of Spanish sanitation and Purification Plan 1995-2005, published by Spanish Ministery of Environment, (http://www.mma.es/...2007). In 2006, the Ministry of Environment worked with all the Regional Governments to estabish the basis for a new National Plan on Water Quality: Sanitation and Purification 2007-2015 (Spanish Ministry of Environment, 2007a). The objectives are: (i) to accomplish all the requirements established in the Directive 91/271 and (ii) to contribute to reach the environmental goals of the WFD by 2015. 7.5.6. Natural risks management: droughts, flooding and water courses.Droughts can be a natural disaster when there is no capacity for hydrological resources management. It can also cause severe damages if water management is not efficient. Spain has been particularly affected by the drought phenomena. During the period 1880-2000, more than half of the years have been classified as dry or very dry. In the decade of the 80s, seven years were considered as dry or very dry, and in the 90s five years received the same categorization. According to the agricultural organizations, during the period 1992-1995, the economic loses caused by drought events in the sector were higher than 9,000 million euros. Even though droughts affect all regions in Spain, the territories where annual rainfall does not exceed 600 mm are the ones suffering the greatest consequences. The measures taken to improve water management and fight the drought periods focus on the new Drought Observatory, the Special Drought Plans, basic infrastructures to increase water availability and the regularization of agricultural insurances. Although precipitation in Spain is not abundant, rainfall can sometimes reach higher values than the annual average, such as in some regions of the Mediterranean coast. Consequently, the big difference between ordinary and extraordinary river flows makes floods a severe problem in Spain. In the new policy, actions for the protection against floods are based on several basic criteria that ensure their efficiency in reducing damages. Among this criteria, we can highlight the coordination between the different administrations and institutions involved, decentralization, the separation of material and human damages, developing programs oriented to differentiated objectives, realism, admitting that complete protection does not exist, respect for the environment, prevention, avoiding urban occupation of foodplains and finally, transparency, clearly explaining all risks taken and the goals of the measures. The organization of the actions for defence are implemented by sectors, through reforestation programs, the implementation of alert and prevision systems such as the Autonomic Systems of Hydrological Information (SAIH by its initials in Spanish), structural actions such as flood detention dams, artificial channels or longitudinal dikes, non-structural measures of landscape planning, actions on the transportation network with the double objective of saving human lives and reducing damages by service interruptions, and insurance programs oriented to the protection of agricultural goods. Regarding the measures, in Spain, just like many other countries, has been traditionally applying structural measures based on infrastructures (mainly flood detention dams and artificial channels). Some of the non-structural measures mostly used are the prevision and alert systems (SAIH), already implemented in great part of the Spanish territory, and landscape planning of floodplain areas. 7.5.7. Environmental key elements: National Plan of River Restoration.It is a line of work from the environmental perspective, where water is not treated as a mere resource but as another element of the territory and the landscape. This plan intends to recover the structure and natural functioning of Spanish rivers and riversides. This was initiated because: (i) the goal of the WFD is to establish a framework for the protection of water bodies that prevents additional deterioration and protects and improves the status of aquatic and terrestial ecosystems, and the wetlands directly dependent on them; (ii) the Water Program, based on the WFD principles, establishes the recovery of aquatic ecosystems and the associated terrestrial ones as keystones of the water policy and (iii) in addition to the previous points, the growing social demand of river recovery has motivated the Ministry of Environment to develop a National Plan of River Restoration (Spanish Ministry of Environment, 2007b). The principal goals of the Spanish National of River Restoration are: (i) impulse to the current management of our rivers to reach a good ecological status, complying with the WFD; (ii) to promote the integration of policies, the ones regarding land use and management and the ones related to the use and management of fluvial ecosystems, with sustainability criteria; (iii) to improve capacity building in the subjects related to the sustainable management of rivers and their restoration; (iv) to provide information and experiences to improve the actions related to river restoration in Spain and (v) to promote citizen participation and involve social groups in the management of fluvial ecosystems. CONCLUSION The traditional water policy in Spain has been concentrated principally on the availability of the supply. Currently adaptation to the new European regulations, demand us to adapt our hydrological resources to these requirements, developing a new policy based on planning and an environmental line of action. REFERENCES (i) ) Directive 91/271/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21st Mat, 1991 concerning urban waste water treatment. (1991). (ii) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23rd October, 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. (2000). (iii) EMASESA. (1997). Crónica de una sequía. (iv) Spanish Ministry of Environment. (1995). Plan de Saneamiento y Depuración 1995-2005 (Sanitation and Purification Plan 1995-2005). Madrid. (v) Spanish Ministry of Environment. (2004). Programa Agua (Water Program). (Actuaciones para la gestión y utilización del agua, Madrid. (vi) Spanish Ministry of Environment. (2007a). Plan Nacional de Calidad de las Aguas: Saneamiento y Depuración 2007-2015 (National Plan on Water Quality: Sanitation and Purification 2007-2015), Madrid. (vii) Spanish Ministry of Environment. (2007b). Plan Nacional de Restauración de Ríos (National Plan of River Restauration), Madrid. (viii) Spanish Ministry of the Presidence. (2007c). Real Decreto 1620/2007 por el que se establece el régimen jurídico de la reutilización de las aguas depuradas (Royal Decree where is regulated the legal regime for reuse of purified waste waters), Madrid. (ix)http://www.mma.es/secciones/acm/aguas_continent_zonas_asoc/ons/noticias_notapre/pdf/ 5presentationCFBCNo61006.pdf (2007). |