Spain's recurring water stress
In September 2016 more than half of Spain showed rainfall and soil moisture deficits, according to the European Drought Observatory. The national weather agency, AEMET, described rainfall as exceptionally low, and parts of the country had temperatures around 40 °C. Spanish research also pointed to droughts becoming more frequent and more intense.
Demand made things worse:
- agriculture used about 80% of the water available nationally, and around 88% in the south;
- a large share was lost to inefficient irrigation and to crops unsuited to arid conditions;
- low water prices discouraged investment;
- hundreds of thousands of unauthorised boreholes drew on the aquifers.
Spanish authorities considered about a third of the country at risk of desertification. Efficient irrigation, like the scheduling FIGARO tested on citrus near Valencia, is one of the few levers that works on both the supply and the demand side.