The Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences belongs to the School of Agricultural Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The Department has 30 full-time professors and lecturers, several full-time research scientists, and it is responsible for all academic courses related to social sciences at both the undergraduate and graduate level. The Department has a well-equipped library, computer facilities, and close relationships with other National and International Institutions.
Dr. Ana Iglesias is a “Ramon y Cajal” Scientist in the Department with extensive international experience. Before joining the Department she was a Senior Research Scientist in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University (USA). She focuses on the Impact of Global Change in Agricultural Production and Resources. She actively contributes to the global change programs of the United Nations and the Global Environmental Facility. She also is an invited Professor in the Institute for Mediterranean Agriculture (IAMZ, Spain). Prof. Garrido has contributed in a number of projects related to water economics since 1994, three which were funded by the European Commission. Prof. Garrido is the co-author of the book “Economics and Management Policies of water in Agriculture” (In Spanish), of particular relevance to the project, which was awarded as the “best agricultural book of the year in 1999”.
The Department currently contributes to: The FAO publication on Water Management in Agriculture; the Revenue Farm Insurance project of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture; the project on Spanish Water Markets that uses experimental economics to test some key properties of the markets; and the development of the Guidelines for Drought Management in the Mediterranean aiming to provide a better understanding of drought, and to strengthen the institutional capabilities to manage the scarce water resources in the region.
The Isabel II Canal has wide experience in the management of urban supply to a conurbation of more than 150 municipalities with a total of 5 million inhabitants in the Mediterranean climatic context, subject to the characteristic climatic variations and severity of this environment and to a significant growth in consumption.
This supply task takes place within the River Tagus Basin, where the resources are planned by the Tagus Water Authority (Confederación Hidrográfica del Tajo) with the global consideration of users and conditioning factors, together with all their varied typology.
The Isabel II Canal has remarkable experience in Drought management. Their work is highly acknowledged by the international scientific community and in the world urban supply environment. Excellence in treatment (prevention and management) of these episodes is the result of a systematic use of documented procedures elaborated from the experience of facing and overcoming critical episodes, with easy access to corrective action instruments.
The diffusion of documents to the public and of technical publications within the technical scope of the world of urban supply further support the recognition of this type of process. Besides, the Isabel II Canal can contribute its capacity to test the validity and utility of all proposals that may arise within the framework of the project.
The Isabel II Canal elaborated a Drought Management Handbook in 1992, which has been revised three times.
In addition, knowledge has been acquired from holding the presidency of the Specialist Group on Operation and Maintenance of the International Water Association (IWA), which englobes this type of task.
The Tagus is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsular, and the third biggest regarding the total contributing area, 55,810 km2, after the rivers Ebro and Douro, and in the amount of water carried. The population concerned is 6,094,000 making up 15.5 % of the Spanish population. The territorial area of the Tagus Basin inside Spain extends over 5 autonomous communities. 4 provincial capitals, Madrid, Toledo, Guadalajara and Cáceres are located within the basin. These most populated areas of the Tagus Basin are those that have the lowest rainfall rates and that suffer the most serious drought episodes.
The Tagus Basin Water Authority has the following functions within the Basin: (i) the preparation of the Hydrological Plan for the catchment area as well as the monitoring and review thereof, (ii) the administration and control of publicly-owned water resources, (iii) the administration and control of the exploitations of general interest or which involve more than one autonomous community, (iv) the planning, construction and operation of the works built and charged to the Organisation's own funds and those that are entrusted to it by the State and (v) those that derive from agreements with the Autonomous Communities, local Corporations and other public and private entities or those signed with private individuals.
The Hydrological Planning Office of the Tagus Basin Water
Authority has developed a management system for drought in the basin, taking
into account the different types of drought (meteorological, agricultural,
hydrological, ecological, technological and psychological), the different
sources of water, including groundwaters, systems of water regulation through
reservoirs and the different types of demand in quantity and quality. This
office has also carried out an analysis of the historical droughts in the
basin, following different criteria such as "Standardised Rainfall Index", the "Palmer Drought Severity Index" and the "Surface
Resources Index"
The Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo (ECODES) is a non-profit organisation, established in 1992, made up of a group of professionals who understand the need to construct Sustainable Development, fundamentally through the generation of options that are ecologically sustainable, socially fair and economically viable, and the carrying out of groundbreaking projects. In recent years it has gained great experience in the management and coordination of complex environmental projects involving public authorities, businesses, educational bodies and NGOs.
ECODES has been working on the efficient use of water in cities for more than seven years. In contrast to the common approach centered on the supply side for correcting imbalances between supply and demand, the objective of the ECODES is to demonstrate the possibility of solving problems of water scarcity by means of a model that is cheaper, more environmentally friendly, quicker, and not socially conflictive; namely by increasing the efficiency of its use.
This was the objective upon the launch of the project entitled “Saragossa, a Water Saving City”, which has become an internationally renowned reference for the efficient use of water. Saragossa has a domestic consumption per person per day of 108 litres (26% lower than the Spanish average), 50 examples of Best Practice in the efficient use of water (hospitals, schools, hotels, industry, shopping centres…) that have made average savings of 46% compared with normal consumption levels in their respective sectors, and the only Spanish web page specialized in the efficient use of water in cities (http://www.agua-dulce.org). ECODES has also worked to promote the sustainable use of hydrological resources in other regions such as the Balearic Islands and the Basque Country.
ECODES has always put special emphasis on the participation of the professionals involved in the consumption of water. The “Saragossa, a Water Saving City” project achieved active participation in the project of 69% of schools and colleges, and 65% of businesses concerned with plumbing, bathroom fittings, white goods, and meter installation, as well as the collaboration of 150 institutions in the dissemination of project information. And at the same time the percentage of citizens who were unaware of water saving measures fell from 60% to 28%.
The result of this work has been the publication of Practical Guides for efficient water use. These guides include: Practical eco-audit guides for hotels, offices, industry, hospitals and educational institutions; Practical Guide to Dryland gardening; and Practical Guide to Water-Saving Technology for households and public services.
