Towards a new economy of water: fundamental issues

Abstract

We need a new economy of water that dares to see and overtake the issues which are relevant in the actual context, with the adequate concepts related to this context. We are no longer, in Spain, in an expansionist rural economy that needs more ponds and water transfer to satisfy the “needs” of the poor farmers. On the contrary, we need to administrate water. The reason for this is that scarcity does not have anymore a strictly physical origin (scarce rain) but is, fundamentally, one of economical and social character (we waste water). The recognition of this diagnosis, in spite of all the confusion created by the institucionality, demands a change of the questions and concepts which are functional to the real and adequate comprehension of the existent alternatives which can no longer be only tecnological but, as well, of social organization.