Andalucia’s water supply being ‘stolen’

PRECIOUS water is exported from the dry lands of Spain in millions of cubic kilometres each year. We receive it in Ireland in, for example, tomatoes, which are probably 70% water.

In Andalucia, snow falls on the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, and January and February usually brings rain. The rivers swell, tanks fill and, in the growing season, irrigation canals bring water to the land. The precious water is, however, being stolen — that is the word the locals used in a protest march held in the town of Órgiva last weekend.

Developers along the coast areusing precious Alpujarra water to supply new apartment blocks and swimming pools, and to create golf courses and keep them green. Local people fear for the lives of the communities of the mountain villages.