Ruminations

Originally proposed by the Socialist government in 1993, the plan is for 120 dams and 1,000km of pipelines to be constructed that would divert a cubic kilometre every year away from the Ebro River, of which a fifth would flow to the Barcelona area and the rest to Valencia, Murcia and eastern Andalusia. Last month the Spanish government formally requested European Union finance to meet a third of the $15 billion cost of the whole project. The European Commission conditionally approved €80m ($100m). The Economist notes that critics say 'the entire plan is outmoded, unwieldy and designed to benefit the government's business friends' and that there are claims it will 'cost twice as much to transport the water as it would to produce more water through desalination'. Asit Biswas, an international consultant recruited by the opponents of the plan, says it will be “a magnificent monument to bad planning for decades and even centuries to come”, while the Greens argue that it will 'destroy the Ebro delta wetlands, home to such protected species as spoonbills and egrets'. Nice to see that the EC is using European taxpayers' funds as effectively as ever.