Project Tasks: Spanish project component

Páginas en Español

The La Mancha study is being carried out in the Júcar catchment in central Spain. The La Mancha partners (La Mancha University) have developed a detailed questionnaire which has been sent to all potential stakeholders along with a brochure to explain the objectives of the MERIT project.

The 08.29 Mancha Oriental System:

• The use of groundwater to supply large surfaces of irrigation land has been the key to agricultural development in a large number of countries over the past few years. In arid and semiarid zones, irrigation using groundwater has transformed good quality land with low productivity (caused by drought) into areas of high productivity. Consequently, the income level of the farmers has increased and the rural population base has been maintained.

• This groundwater use must be sustainable, balancing the extractions with the recharge of the aquifer. Overexploitation of the system has often been normal practice in the past, leading to serious environmental damage and contributing to the desertification process. Moreover, the exploitation of these lands will eventually prove to be uneconomical in the future.

• It is therefore imperative that strategies should be adopted to regulate the actual volume of water extraction in order to sustain the level of groundwater adequately.

• The Hydrogeological System 08.29 is located in the Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, on the eastern side of the La Mancha plains, with a total surface area of 8.500 km2, as shown in Figure 1.

• The aquifer supplies water to almost 100,000 ha of irrigated lands provided with modern irrigation technology. The aquifer also supplies domestic and industrial water for a population of over 275,000. The annual water draft for these purposes is about 450 hm3 (425 hm3 for irrigation and 25 hm3 for urban supply).

• The considerable development of irrigation systems during the 1975-2000 period has caused a significant decrease in the piezometric levels of this aquifer. Figures 2 and 3 show these facts. As a result, the aquifer is close to overexploitation.

• An Irrigation Users' Association of Eastern Mancha (IUAMO) was founded in 1994 by users of aquifer 08.29. This institution groups farmers who manage over 90,000 ha of irrigated lands, with the main goal of achieving a sustainable level of water use.

• To meet this goal, different research and technology transfer projects have been developed in this area since 1995, with the participation of teams from universities, especially from Castilla-La Mancha University, and from technology transfer institutions, such as the Instituto Técnico Agronómico Provincial (ITAP). The participation of the UIAMO has been the key to modernise technologies that lead to the solution of several practical problems.

• The results obtained so far have been published in different papers and have been presented in congresses and scientific conventions.

• The following is a list of the major stakeholders involved in the project: