The Problem of Water Use in Rural Areas of Southwestern Spain: A Local Perspective

Water is a key strategic resource, particularly in Mediterranean climate-type areas with impermeable rocks and shallow soils like Southwestern Spain. The region of Extremadura is commonly known by its large surface occupied by big dams (30% of water dammed in Spain) although this theoretical abundance of water does not hide other problems of use. In this study, we have interviewed 132 people from the municipality of Arroyo de San Servan in order to know what the problems related to water use are, especially those that concern local people the most. Regarding the use of water at home, 90% of interviewees spend less than 60 EUR per month for water and their mean degree of satisfaction about the service is 3.7 out of 7. The reason for this low value can be the excessive content of calcium and bad taste according to 82.1%. Therefore, 64.2% of people do not usually drink water from the tap. Around two thirds of these local people usually buy water in the supermarket or drink filtered water. Concerning agricultural activities, local people gave great importance to irrigation as a source of employment (5.6/7) and inputs (4.5/7), although their satisfaction decreases about the current price of water for agriculture (0.02 EUR m(-3)). In addition, they are really worried about the overuse of fertilizers and herbicides (5.4/7) and they think about the necessity of taking measures to reduce these problems (6.1/7) as well as to reduce some management problems such as supply cuts. In the last few years, private (swimming pools) and public leisure facilities (swimming pool and spa) have been built in spite of not being considered important by local people (3.6-4.0/7). Nevertheless, about 60% of them consider these common facilities very positive in terms of employment, tourism attractions and entertainment for local people.