Spain Water Shortage

INTRODUCTION

In this paper we researched whether Spain is able to resolve their water issues and to prevent these issues in the future. Spain has been suffering droughts throughout the country for a long time but the current droughts seem to reflect a climate change caused by global warming. Most countries and their inhabitants assume that there will always be enough water, however due to expanding industries and a growing global population, water demand keeps rising. Up till now people and countries have had conflicts about land or oil but the conflicts of the future may very well be about a lack of fresh drinking water. Since climate change will have a vast influence on our world, we should be focusing on one of our most important resources, water. As a consequence of the droughts millions of people have to leave their homes. Most of these areas are in the developing world but now Europe, Spain in particular, is also suffering these droughts. The climate change in Spain is comparable to what is happening in desert areas in Northern Africa. Consequently, the ‘Africanization’ of the climate in Spain is well known among scientists.

The Spanish government has difficulties to manage the little water they have and therefore the water problem turns into a political problem as well. Is this the foretaste of the water wars that scientists are warning us about? Most of the Spanish population worries even more about the water problem than terrorism or the economic crisis. In order to resolve, and in the future prevent the water shortages it is extremely important that world leaders, institutions, politicians, consumers, farmers and all other stakeholders work together. It is relevant for companies and other stakeholders to develop future plans for good quality water management. The research in this paper will show if and how Spain may be able to prevent these water shortages in the future.

In order to do this research, first the area of research was observed and our...