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Water availability is a limiting factor for many human activities and natural ecosystems processes. Monitoring of water resources, as well as the impacts of water scarcity on human and natural ecosystems, is key for defining adapted water management strategies. Currently, different European and Worldwide organisations are providing several climate services (CS) based on output datasets from weather forecast and climate projection models. To ensure the translation of these CS to actionable knowledge at a local scale, it has been required the tailoring and downscaling of data to fit the user requirements expressed by selected stakeholders representing different relevant sectors. This is one of the main goals of H2020 I-CISK project (https://icisk.eu/) which includes this study carried out at the Guadalquivir River Basin (RB) (small part of Guadiana RB), in the northern part of Andalusia, South of Spain. It is one of the seven established living labs (LL) in I-CISK. This LL is particularly vulnerable to drought impacts.The present work aims at evaluating the contribution of remote sensing data as an explanatory variable of the spatial pattern of precipitation, a key meteorological variable of water resources models. This characterization is a necessary preliminary step to understand the local relationships between climatic variables and others (topography, vegetation response, etc…) in order to subsequently apply known correlations to downscale weather forecasting and climate projection models to the spatial resolution required by the user community.The method is based on the generation of multiple regressions with residual interpolation using weather stations' monthly precipitation data as the dependent variable and a set of independent variables at 250 m spatial resolution such as, squared distance to the Mediterranean Sea and to the Atlantic Ocean, elevation, cosine of aspect, a set of remote sensing indexes (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI)), synthetic versions of these indexes and corresponding anomalies.The NDVI used is generated by monthly aggregation of 16‐day MODIS composite products of MOD13Q1. NDWI has also been calculated from MOD13Q1 surface reflectance products. Synthetic NDVI and NDWI have been generated replacing the original pixel values by the neighbouring vegetation NDVI at the locations of gauge stations where land cover is categorized as impervious surface. NDVI and NDWI anomalies are calculated based on the climatological monthly mean from the 2000-2021 MODIS data time series. Regressions include independent variables time lags of 0, +1, +2 and +3 months after with respect to the date of precipitation variable.Preliminary results of single year’s analysis show that including remote sensing data to the analysis results in a better spatial characterization, obtaining higher correlations in the regressions, which are strongly dependent on seasonality. There is no clear pattern of which index (version and anomaly) is the best contributor and there is also no clear result for the response time lag between precipitation and the indices, although +2 months seems to be the most relevant. Future work will use a full time series analysis to obtain more information on these patterns.

Mega-damming, pollution and depletion endanger rivers worldwide. Meanwhile, modernist imaginaries of ordering ‘unruly waters and humans’ have become cornerstones of hydraulic-bureaucratic and capitalist development. They separate hydro/social worlds, sideline river-commons cultures, and deepen socio-environmental injustices. But myriad new water justice movements (NWJMs) proliferate: rooted, disruptive, transdisciplinary, multi-scalar coalitions that deploy alternative river–society ontologies, bridge South–North divides, and translate river-enlivening practices from local to global and vice-versa. This paper's framework conceptualizes ‘riverhood’ to engage with NWJMs and river commoning initiatives. We suggest four interrelated ontologies, situating river socionatures as arenas of material, social and symbolic co-production: ‘river-as-ecosociety’, ‘river-as-territory’, ‘river-as-subject’, and ‘river-as-movement’.

Droughts are recurrent phenomena that are intrinsic to any climate. In Spain, as in many countries in the Mediterranean region, forecasts derived from climate change models predict an increase in the frequency and intensity of this type of phenomena. This makes even more necessary to focus efforts on strengthening social and institutional capacities through prevention, mitigation and adaptation strategies to mitigate the possible impacts of drought on the society and the environment. Despite the progress achieved at the scale of river basin districts and large municipalities, small and medium-sized towns often do not have drought risk management tools adapted to their specific needs. This study developed a participatory methodology for the elaboration of drought risk management plans in small and medium-sized towns. The methodology was tested and validated in three pilot municipalities: Madridejos (Toledo), Puente Genil (Córdoba) and Xàbia (Alicante). As a result, a methodological guide was developed to facilitate the preparation and adaptation of these plans to the different contexts, realities and needs of each municipality. The communication presents the key elements of this participatory methodology and the lessons learnt from the experience in the three pilot sites.

The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires EU member states to produce and implement river basin management plans, which are to be designed and updated via participatory processes that inform, consult with, and actively involve all interested stakeholders. The assumption of the European Commission is that stakeholder participation, and institutional adaptation and procedural innovation to facilitate it, are essential to the effectiveness of river basin planning and, ultimately, the environmental impact of the Directive. We analyzed official documents and the WFD literature to compare implementation of the Directive in EU member states in the initial WFD planning phase (2000-2009). Examining the development of participatory approaches to river basin management planning, we consider the extent of transformation in EU water governance over the period. Employing a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach, we map the implementation "trajectories" of 13 member states, and then provide a detailed examination of shifts in river basin planning and participation in four member states (Germany, Sweden, Poland and France) to illustrate the diversity of institutional approaches observed. We identify a general tendency towards increased, yet circumscribed, stakeholder participation in river basin management in the member states examined, alongside clear continuities in terms of their respective pre-WFD institutional and procedural arrangements. Overall, the WFD has driven a highly uneven shift to river basin-level planning among the member states, and instigated a range of efforts to institutionalize stakeholder involvement-often through the establishment of advisory groups to bring organized stakeholders into the planning process.

Spain is a highly decentralized country where water governance is a multi-level institutional endeavor requiring effective intergovernmental coordination—in terms of objectives and actions. The paper revisits the evolution of vertical and horizontal intergovernmental interactions in Spain, with a special focus on four interregional river basins. We build on a historical analysis of the evolution of water governance institutions, a mapping of existing interactions over water, careful document analysis, and interviews with selected public officials that are at the interface between the political and the technical spheres. Intergovernmental interaction occurs through different mechanisms that are slowly evolving to adapt to new challenges posed by changing power dynamics and water policy goals. Since the start of political decentralization in 1978, key institutional reforms within and outside of the water sector have opened windows of opportunity for regions to seek new spheres of influence and power. Disputes over water allocation, environmental flows, inter-basin transfers, and even basin boundaries delineation emerge as an expression of a struggle over power distribution between the regions and the central government. The physical and institutional geography of water and diverging visions and priorities (over water and beyond) are among the factors that contribute to shape conflict and cooperation in intergovernmental relations over water.

For the past several years we have engaged with Erik Swyngedouw in a productive discussion about the role seawater desalination plays in Spanish hydropolitics. The 2016 publication of his most rece...

Water markets are a form of decentralized resource allocation, yet their success often depends on strong coordination institutions to establish appropriate regulatory frameworks, address disputes and minimize third party impacts as water is redistributed. Water markets and associated institutional reforms are prevalent in countries with federal political systems. The territorial division of authority in federal countries enhances representation of diverse interests and creates incentives for local innovation but it also creates potential coordination challenges in river basins shared by multiple jurisdictions. This paper compares water markets and associated institutional reforms in Australia, Spain and the Western USA - three federations with longstanding experience with water markets but different approaches to distributing authority and intergovernmental coordination in water allocation. We conduct an institutional mapping of national and sub-national roles in market-based water allocation reforms across the three countries and employ process tracing techniques to examine coordination challenges and institutional responses associated with water markets. The comparative institutional analysis illustrates how the policy goals addressed by water markets vary across – and within – the three countries in part due to the level of centralisation and the different balance of national versus sub-national interests driving water market development. Despite these differences, all three cases show that water markets require well-developed inter-governmental coordination institutions, which come in multiple forms matched to the local context, history and specific regional governance challenges.

Economic instruments are being promoted as a desirable alternative to public sector action in the allocation and management of natural resources. A wide body of literature has developed that critically analyzes this phenomenon as part of a wider project of ‘neoliberalization of nature’, trying to uncover the underlying rationale and commonalities of geographically specific phenomena. The case of water is at the vanguard of these processes and is proving to be particularly contentious. In the European Union water policies are increasingly emphasizing the application of economic instruments to improve the allocative equity and economic efficiency in the use of scarce resources. However, there are few analyses of how these instruments are really working on the ground and whether they are meeting their objectives. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by critically analyzing the experience with water markets in Spain, the only country in the European Union where they are operative. It looks at water permit sales during the 2005–2008 drought period using the Tajo–Segura transfer infrastructure. The paper describes how the institutional process of mercantilizacion of water works in practice in Spain. It shows that the use of markets requires an intense process of institutional development to facilitate and encourage their operation. These institutions tend to favor the interests of clearly identifiable elites, instead of the public interest they supposedly promote.

The uncertainty associated with the definition of strategies for climate change adaptation poses a challenge that cannot be faced by science alone. We present a participatory experience where, instead of having science defining solutions and eliciting stakeholders’ feedback, local actors actually drove the process. While principles and methods of the approach are easily adaptable to different local contexts, this paper shows the contribution of participatory dynamics to the design of adaptation measures in the biodiversity-rich socio-ecological region surrounding the Donana wetlands (Southern Spain). During the process, stakeholders and scientists collaboratively designed a common scenario for the future in which to define and assess a portfolio of potential adaptation measures, and found a safe, informal space for open dialogue and information exchange. Through this dialogue, points of connection among local actors emerged around the need for more integrated, transparent design of adaptation measures; for strengthening local capacity; and for strategies to diversify economic activities in order to increase the resilience of the region.

Groundwater use in Spain has increased dramatically in the second half of the twentieth century. Today, groundwater is the primary source of drinking water for almost 13 million people. It is also helping transform irrigated agriculture. Groundwater irrigation accounts for more than 50 percent of the total economic value of irrigated agricultural production in Spain, while it only consumes about 20 percent of the total volume of water. However, intensive groundwater use has also resulted in serious environmental problems in some areas; in particular, negative impacts to groundwater dependant ecosystems and problems in coastal aquifers due to saltwater intrusion. In spite of its socioeconomic and environmental significance, groundwater has not been a significant part of Spanish water policy. In order to maintain the benefits derived from groundwater use and to avoid or mitigate the negative impacts, some changes are necessary. First, the structure, operation, and goals of Basin Management Agencies...

In the last few years, parallel evolutionary processes in the socio-political, governmental and technological arenas have been providing new pathways for the collaborative generation, coordination and distribution of polycentric information. From a technological perspective, the proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has boosted the availability of information about our planet, along with its storage, processing and dissemination capabilities. The Worldwide Web and satellite and electronic sensors combined with smart phone technologies have also opened new means for social, political and scientific innovation. From a socio-political standpoint, the implementation of policies that encourage the reutilisation of data and protect the right to information of interested parties, together with growing social demands for transparency, have resulted in an increasing number of governments drawing strategies to open up public data. In this context, this paper addresses two main topics that we deem will be key drivers for improved water governance in the near future. First, it discusses new practices of collaborative and distributed generation and disclosure of information for water governance, and the resulting challenges and opportunities afforded by the use of ICTs. Second, it looks at the interplay between the uptake of ICTs and institutional frameworks, social dynamics and technological structures within which they operate to understand the extent to which ICTs affect decision-making processes and contribute to creating alternative spaces for the production of common services or alternative discourses. Despite the advances in open data policies, findings suggest that there remain significant challenges to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by ICTs, mostly derived from the structural conditions of existing models of decision-making, and information generation and management. It seems that the potentialities of ICTs as transformative tools are conditioned by the regeneration of the context within which decisions are made, that is, the democratic process itself.

/ There are tens of thousands of small dams in the United States; many of these aging structures are deteriorating. Governments and dam owners face decisions regarding repair or removal of these structures. Along with the many benefits society derives from dams and their impoundments, numerous recent ecological studies are revealing the extensive alteration and degradation of river ecosystems by dams. Dam removal-a principal restoration strategy-is an infrequent event. The major reasons for removal have been public safety and the high costs associated with repair; the goal of river ecosystem restoration now warrants greater attention. Substantial study is being given to the environmental aspects of dams and dam removals, but very little attention has been given to the socioeconomic and institutional dimensions associated with the removal of dams, although these factors play a significant role in the removal decision-making process. Based on a case study of dam removals in Wisconsin-where more than 30 of the state's 3600 small dams have been removed in the past few decades-legal, financial, and socioeconomic issues associated with dam removal are documented and assessed. Dam removal has been complex and contentious, with limited community-based support for removal and loss of the impounded waters. In cases examined here, the estimated costs of repairing a dam averaged more than three times the cost of removal. The availability of governmental financing has been a key determinant in removal decisions. Watershed-scale ecological considerations are not major factors for most local interests. As watershed management and restoration increasingly include dam removal options as part of an integrated strategy, more attention will need to be focused on socioeconomic factors and stakeholder perspectives-variables that strongly influence the viability of this management alternative.KEY WORDS: Dam removal; River restoration; Institutions; Stakeholders

Semiarid and drought-prone Spain has managed to meet ever-increasing water demands for more than 50 years through the construction of publicly funded hydraulic infrastructure. Interbasin water transfers are the most expensive and complex supply-side tool used. They are also the most controversial, often associated with such unintended consequences as deteriorating freshwater ecosystems, disappearing recreational opportunities provided by aquatic ecosystems, and the loss of development opportunities for downstream communities. This situation has become increasingly unstable over the past decade due to the scarcity of new supply augmentation alternatives, political changes involving European Union (EU) environmental legislation, new political power in upstream regions, and the appearance of new stakeholders at the decision-making table. As a result, competing demands over available resources and interregional conflicts are delaying water planning efforts, signaling the end of an era and demanding a shift from a competitive “using water” toward a “sharing water” risk and trade-off governance approach.

This chapter provides an overview of the different legal, administrative and economic factors that provide the institutional context for water manage- ment in Spain, focusing on the effects of the 2000 European Water Framework Directive (WFD). At present and partially due to the WFD implementation process, the Spanish water sector is experiencing a slow transition from old to new water paradigms. Highlights in this sense are the consideration of the achievement of ecological quality as a primary planning and management objective; an increase in public participation and transparency in water-related decision processes; the economic analysis of water services; and an increased emphasis on water demand management. The achievement of the WFD objectives faces several challenges and uncertainties that are of technical, financial and political nature. However, possibly the key to a successful implementation of the WFD and a real shift of paradigm lays in strengthening the link between land use and water management and in creating institutional structures that facilitate co-responsibility and full cooperation between the central state and the regions, who hold most of the responsibilities on land use management.

Los procesos de participación pública implementados a raíz de la Directiva Marco del Agua (DMA) constituyen un importante salto adelante para la democratización de la gestión del agua en España. En el presente texto, a partir de un análisis documental y entrevistas exploratorias, se señalan algunas de las virtudes y debilidades de dichos procesos. En general, se observa que los puntos más problemáticos tienen que ver con la inercia institucional que conforma las relaciones entre los organismos de cuenca y los usuarios tradicionales del agua, así como con la falta de credibilidad que algunos de estos procesos han tenido para algunos de sus potenciales participantes. Como conclusión se advierte la necesidad de pensar nuevos diseños institucionales que respondan a la idea de gobernanza expresada por la DMA. The public participation processes that are taking place in Spain as a result of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) constitutes an important step forward toward the democratization of water management in Spain. Grounded on document analysis and exploratory interviews, this article highlights some of its strengths and weaknesses. In general, the most problematic aspects of these processes are related to their lack of credibility for some potential participants, as well the persistence of an institutional setup for water decision making that strongly favors the long-standing relationship between Basin Management Agencies and traditional water users. The article offers some concluding remarks on the need for a reformed institutional desing for the management of water resources, according to the idea of governance expressed by the WFD.

Groundwater is a key component of any sustainable water management policy, particularly in arid and semi-arid countries where water resources are scarce. Dosi and Tonin (Chapter 2, this volume, Tables 2.8 and 2.9) provide an overview of the importance of groundwater use by sector in southern European countries. While national averages do not account for the strong regional differences in groundwater use, it is apparent that groundwater plays a key role as an integral part of the national water management strategies in many of these countries.