World Drought Day: Tourism drinks Spain’s water

Tourism is the second sector that dries up Spain’s water resources the most.Despite representing 13% of GDP, according to Carlos Garriga, director of the We Are Water Foundation, World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.

Spain is one of the most water-stressed industrialized countries in the world, Garriga recalls, but wonders if there is really any awareness of the lack of water.

«We are the third country in the European Union with the most used agricultural land, where we need 70% to 80% of the water. Y, Although most of the irrigation is done by drip method, there are still lands irrigated with systems that waste water.», he points out.

Also, “according to government data, aquifers present a high degree of contamination with nitrates» adds the director of the We Are Water foundation to an article published in Efe. This is a situation we “knew almost nothing about until we saw the ecological catastrophes it caused in the tourist area of ​​La Manga del Mar Menor last summer. Newspapers and all social networks.

Tourism drinks Spain’s water

One of the sectors with the highest water consumption is tourism.If the average Spaniard consumes 127 liters of water per day, the cost per tourist ranges from 450 to 800 liters.» and «it is estimated that 50 million people who visited our country will return soon after the pandemic; the majority, during the driest season of the year, in the summer».

Swimming pools consume a lot of water Preferred


Exactly a few days ago, in the case of the Balearic Islands, it was known that tourism drinks one out of every four liters of water in the archipelago. A UIB study calculated how much water was first consumed by tourism in the Balearic Islands: 24.2% on average in the archipelago or what is the same thing, one four liters. This calculation, made by a group of researchers from the university and published in the scientific journal Sustainable Tourism Magazine, It was possible thanks to the quarantine that the islands were closed to the arrival of tourists between April and June 2020.

From the Department of Geography, Dr. “Despite all the negative effects Covid has had, we found an ideal scenario to run the study during the lockdown because there is no data on the islands disaggregated by months of water consumption,” said Cels García. UIB’s photo.

We obtained monthly data on water consumption in nine municipalities in the Balearic Islands in 2019 and 2020, allowing us to establish a pattern of consumption declines that are more pronounced in the most touristic areas. Thanks to the overnight data, we built a mathematical model and observed a very clear linear relationship between the reduction in overnight stays and water consumption. And we got an average value for a 24.2% reduction in water consumption,” said Enrique Morán, a doctor in the Department of Geography at UIB.

Landscape in Contreras (Valencia) FERNANDO BUSTAMANTE


Garcia asked, “What can we compare this data to?” she asked. Inland water consumption in the Balearic Islands between 2013 and 2019 represented an average of 133 million cubic meters per year. If the quarter corresponds to tourism, We can say that tourism consumes 33.2 million cubic meters. A figure comparable to the groundwater used for irrigation in the Balearic Islands.gave value.

“We are all responsible”

Referring to the motto of the 2022 Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (‘overcoming droughts together’), Carlos Garriga said, “We are all responsible for the conservation and sustainable use of water and soil, and We must act now to avoid disastrous consequences for humanity and the planet’s ecosystems.

Garriga also reminds us that water and sanitation make up the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #6, but “if we read others, this invaluable asset is at the core of all SDGs to end poverty, achieve gender equality or preserve the life of terrestrial ecosystems”.

…..

Environment department contact address:[email protected]

Source: Informacion

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