IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v194y2017icp113-124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sticks and carrots to manage groundwater over-abstraction in La Mancha, Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Closas, Alvar
  • Molle, François
  • Hernández-Mora, Nuria

Abstract

Over recent decades, groundwater-fed irrigation has sustained the social and economic development of La Mancha, Spain. Without much initial regulation and control, groundwater resources and aquifer levels decreased dramatically, threatening agriculture and also highly valuable groundwater-dependant wetland ecosystems. This paper presents as a historical analysis of the different policy tools used to manage and regulate groundwater abstraction in the Western Mancha Aquifer after Spain approved its 1985 Water Law. It analyses the panoply of control and management instruments laid out by the state to counter the resource depletion trend, demonstrating the necessity by regulatory bodies to complement soft incentives (carrots) with the threat of sanctions and groundwater access limitations (sticks). As this case study shows however, each policy modality has its legal and practical loopholes which can be negotiated and exploited by groundwater users to their own advantage. Improvements in groundwater levels starting in 2010 seem to be linked to aquifer recharge following an unprecedented wet cycle rather than the effectiveness of the policy tools.

Suggested Citation

  • Closas, Alvar & Molle, François & Hernández-Mora, Nuria, 2017. "Sticks and carrots to manage groundwater over-abstraction in La Mancha, Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 113-124.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:194:y:2017:i:c:p:113-124
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2017.08.024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377417302883
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2017.08.024?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giordano, Mark & Villholth, Karen, 2007. "The agricultural groundwater revolution: opportunities and threats to development," IWMI Books, Reports H040039, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Varela-Ortega, C., 2007. "Policy-driven determinants of irrigation development and environmental sustainability: a case study in Spain," IWMI Books, Reports H040612, International Water Management Institute.
    3. L. De Stefano & J.M. Fornés & J.A. López-Geta & F. Villarroya, 2015. "Groundwater use in Spain: an overview in light of the EU Water Framework Directive," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 640-656, December.
    4. Nicolas Faysse & Olivier Petit, 2012. "Convergent readings of groundwater governance? Engaging exchanges between different research perspectives," Post-Print hal-02002806, HAL.
    5. Lucia De Stefano & Pedro Martínez-Santos & Fermín Villarroya & Daniel Chico & Luis Martínez-Cortina, 2013. "Easier Said Than Done? The Establishment of Baseline Groundwater Conditions for the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Spain," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(7), pages 2691-2707, May.
    6. Llamas, M. R. & Garrido, A., 2007. "Lessons from intensive groundwater use in Spain: economic and social benefits and conflicts," IWMI Books, Reports H040051, International Water Management Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pereau, Jean-Christophe & Pryet, Alexandre & Rambonilaza, Tina, 2019. "Optimality Versus Viability in Groundwater Management with Environmental Flows," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 109-120.
    2. Intissar Ferchichi & Insaf Mekki & Mohamed Elloumi & Lamia Arfa & Sylvie Lardon, 2020. "Actors, Scales and Spaces Dynamics Linked to Groundwater Resources use for Agriculture Production in Haouaria Plain, Tunisia. A Territory Game Approach," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Eric C. Edwards & Todd Guilfoos, 2021. "The Economics of Groundwater Governance Institutions across the Globe," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1571-1594, December.
    4. Mehdi Ketabchy, 2021. "Investigating the Impacts of the Political System Components in Iran on the Existing Water Bankruptcy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-22, December.
    5. López-Pérez, Esther & Sanchis-Ibor, Carles & Jiménez-Bello, Miguel Ángel & Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel, 2024. "Mapping of irrigated vineyard areas through the use of machine learning techniques and remote sensing," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    6. Courtney M. Regan & Jeffery D. Connor & Md Sayed Iftekhar, 2023. "An economic assessment of options for operating within plantation forestry water entitlements and tightening cap and trade policy," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(2), pages 303-322, April.
    7. Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Guillermo Donoso, 2019. "State, market or community failure? Untangling the determinants of groundwater depletion in Copiapó (Chile)," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 283-304, March.
    8. Hamed Ketabchi & Davood Mahmoodzadeh & Elmira Valipour & Tofigh Saadi, 2024. "Uncertainty-based analysis of water balance components: a semi-arid groundwater-dependent and data-scarce area, Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(12), pages 31511-31537, December.
    9. Rouillard, Josselin & Rinaudo, Jean-Daniel, 2020. "From State to user-based water allocations: An empirical analysis of institutions developed by agricultural user associations in France," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Guillermo Donoso, 2019. "State, market or community failure? Untangling the determinants of groundwater depletion in Copiapó (Chile)," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 283-304, March.
    2. Varela-Ortega, Consuelo, 2011. "Participatory Modeling for Sustainable Development in Water and Agrarian Systems: Potential and Limits of Stakeholder Involvement," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 115546, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Jac Van der Gun & Annukka Lipponen, 2010. "Reconciling Groundwater Storage Depletion Due to Pumping with Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(11), pages 1-18, November.
    4. Blanco-Gutierrez, Irene & Varela-Ortega, Consuelo & Flichman, Guillermo, 2008. "Cost-Effectiveness of Water Conservation Measures: A Multi-level Analysis with Policy Implications," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 43846, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Adrian Werner & Qi Zhang & Lijuan Xue & Brian Smerdon & Xianghu Li & Xinjun Zhu & Lei Yu & Ling Li, 2013. "An Initial Inventory and Indexation of Groundwater Mega-Depletion Cases," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(2), pages 507-533, January.
    6. Carmen Marchiori & Susan Sayre & Leo Simon, 2012. "On the Implementation and Performance of Water Rights Buyback Schemes," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(10), pages 2799-2816, August.
    7. Mercedes Vélez-Nicolás & Santiago García-López & Verónica Ruiz-Ortiz & Ángel Sánchez-Bellón, 2020. "Towards a Sustainable and Adaptive Groundwater Management: Lessons from the Benalup Aquifer (Southern Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-28, June.
    8. Blanco-Gutiérrez, Irene & Varela-Ortega, Consuelo & Flichman, Guillermo, 2011. "Cost-effectiveness of groundwater conservation measures: A multi-level analysis with policy implications," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 639-652, February.
    9. Mohammad Alauddin & Upali A. Amarasinghe & Bharat R. Sharma, 2014. "Four decades of rice water productivity in Bangladesh: A spatio-temporal analysis of district level panel data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 51-64.
    10. Stergios Athanassoglou & Glenn Sheriff & Tobias Siegfried & Woonghee Huh, 2012. "Optimal Mechanisms for Heterogeneous Multi-Cell Aquifers," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 52(2), pages 265-291, June.
    11. Buchholz, Matthias & Musshoff, Oliver, 2014. "The role of weather derivatives and portfolio effects in agricultural water management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 34-44.
    12. Philippus Wester & Jaime Hoogesteger & Linden Vincent, 2009. "Local IWRM organizations for groundwater regulation: The experiences of the Aquifer Management Councils (COTAS) in Guanajuato, Mexico," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(1), pages 29-38, February.
    13. Linda Steinhübel & Johannes Wegmann & Oliver Mußhoff, 2020. "Digging deep and running dry—the adoption of borewell technology in the face of climate change and urbanization," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(5), pages 685-706, September.
    14. Audrey Richard-Ferroudji & Nicolas Faysse & Zhour Bouzidi & Menon Ragunath & Jean-Daniel Rinaudo, 2016. "Proposal COSUST Special Issue « Co-designing Research on Social Transformations to Sustainability » Title: The DIALAQ project on sustainable groundwater management: a transdisciplinary and transcultur," Post-Print hal-01378517, HAL.
    15. Zhang, Lijuan & Wang, Jinxia & Huang, Jikun & Rozelle, Scott, 2008. "Development of Groundwater Markets in China: A Glimpse into Progress to Date," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 706-726, April.
    16. Figureau, A.-G. & Montginoul, M. & Rinaudo, J.-D., 2015. "Policy instruments for decentralized management of agricultural groundwater abstraction: A participatory evaluation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 147-157.
    17. Villholth, Karen, 2015. "Groundwater for food production and livelihoods - the nexus with climate change and transboundary water management," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    18. World Bank, 2020. "Managing Groundwater for Drought Resilience in South Asia," World Bank Publications - Reports 33332, The World Bank Group.
    19. Lifang Wang & Zhenlong Nie & Min Liu & Le Cao & Pucheng Zhu & Qinlong Yuan, 2022. "Rational Allocation of Water Resources in the Arid Area of Northwestern China Based on Numerical Simulations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    20. Karen Villholth & Lorraine Rajasooriyar, 2010. "Groundwater Resources and Management Challenges in Sri Lanka–an Overview," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(8), pages 1489-1513, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:194:y:2017:i:c:p:113-124. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.