Challenges of fair ecological transition for water planning. The case of the Guadalquivir Demarcation Plan (third cycle 2022-2027)

Abstract

After 22 years of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) being in force, the new river basin management plans for the third planning cycle (2022-2027) are being approved in all the countries of the European Union. A common framework of objectives, methodology, spatial scale and timetable are applied, as in our case study, the Guadalquivir river basin. Following the analysis methodology proposed by the Observatory of Public Water Policies (OPPA) since the first planning cycle throughout Spain, we identified in our case, among others, the following major problems: a level of water bodies status deterioration higher than it is recognised in official documents; the overestimation of natural resources in the context of climate change; inaccuracies in the data on agricultural water demand; neglect of the ecological, social and territorial problems of crop intensification; and analysis of alternatives with preconceived solutions. The main article’s conclusions are the need to reconceptualise permanent water stress, no longer confusing it with extraordinary drought; and, inevitably, the need to overcome, or at least reduce, chronic governance deficits.