What less water or water culture?

2000/06/01 Antiguedad, Iñaki Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

What happened in other areas also happens in this water, that is, that, in the thread of the subject, we throw phrases with total tranquility, as if they were round truths that do not have to whiten. Empty, topical slogans. So it is. And part of the future. These topics abound in water. But they must be justified, that is, explain all the incidents that have hidden. "Water is a scarce resource" and is also "poorly distributed". Here is one of those topics. And as it is scarce, you have to manage its use. And since it is poorly distributed, it is necessary to transfer the water from one place to another, so that the human being can balance what nature says to unbalance. But we go to the promontory, because the topic, so clear and short, encloses in its interior long shadows.

Only what is October is managed. For many years the water has not been managed, since all winter meant rain. As it was a surplus issue, it was not necessary to manage it to meet current and local needs, both in quantity and quality. Moreover, lacking extraordinary, economic values, it was not considered a resource. A different water culture was not necessary yet, it was enough with the traditional custom of users. The evolution of recent years is very different. Despite the fact that in quantity water has not been dramatically reduced, in quality it has become much worse, it has become worse and has become "insufficient" to cover various needs. Scarcity has introduced water into the trafficking market, assigning economic value, and water is a resource to manage. And they have explained the need for the slogan “The new water culture”.

They say that water is scarce, but when we say WATER what do we talk about? The first thing to say is that water is a natural resource in all cases and in some cases also becomes an economic and social resource. But before, the natural: a fundamental dynamic agent in all ecosystems, irreplaceable, the most important and active link between the components of the entire ecosystem, no doubt; water has the same obligation as blood in nature. And they insist that we have to take care of nature in the name of sustainable development. Therefore, water values, dynamic in ecosystems and ethical-aesthetic in humans, must be overcome technical problems. Therefore, all the ecosystems of the planet have enough water, no more or less in natural conditions. What does it mean to say that water is poorly distributed? It is not a "basin of lack of water" or "leftover water" with its own logic. The reasons why water flows from one basin to another are human hands, never missing water in one basin and left over in the other. In fact, on the banks of the Sahara there is little water and in the Ebro basin much, it is true, but one cannot say that there is no water and here there is plenty, because in both areas the inhabitants of the area have enough, moderate water.

Therefore, this scarcity is a consequence of the relationship between the supply of demand: when the demand for water from a basin (in the urban, agricultural, industrial, tourist, hydroelectric...) is higher than the supply of water proper to the basin, then it is said that the water is "scarce" and that the basin lacks water, so there are those who think that water must be brought from anywhere, even if the starting point is above the supply. The source of all errors in sustainable development is: what delimits? Water problems must be solved in the place. Unlike many other problems, the scale factor has a great importance in water: the problem in which the solution is found. And these solutions should not be sought on the bank of the river, but on the head of many managers. Keeping the water clean and reasoning, distributing and reducing the demand for water, the existing water, in any case, will not be scarce, but provided. Let's take it into account. The starting points that are not topical to better understand the topics are:

• Our time to make profound changes in our worldview is as far as water.
• The fundamental problem is not the scarcity of resources, but the lack of willingness to change the model of life; it is not that more rivers are raised, but that demand is the same.
• Scarce and poorly distributed resource water? The really badly distributed is the water demand of the current model.
• Nowhere else has the real value of water; it would be a disregard for the parts of the Guggenheim to spread throughout the Basque Country, understanding that this building is the heritage of all Basques.
• Water left in a basin? Has a territory covered the wood needs of forests?
• Only Lerdo confuses the value of things with values.
• There is a lack of culture and feeling, rather than water.