A watershed decision

The constitutional court has unanimously decided to annul key parts of the statutes of Andalusia and Castilla y León that gave the two regions' governments control over the Guadalquivir and the Duero rivers respectively. The court has based its decision on Article 149 of the Spanish Constitution, which gives the central government exclusive control over hydrological resources that pass through, or are based in, more than one region.

The regional government of Extremadura had appealed against proposals within the two regions' statutes, and it now seems that the 12-member court has decided that certain constitutional principles are untouchable: in the case of water resources, which are the responsibility of the state, regional governments will not have the final say in how they are used. But regions facing water shortages are making it increasingly clear that while they respect the Constitution, they also should be able to decide how water that passes through their territory is used. Recent updates to the regions' statutes make this clear, albeit by using safety clauses along the lines of "without prejudicing what has already been established in the Constitution."

But such clauses have done little to avoid conflicts of interest: in practice, the regions' statutes have limited the extent to which the central government can apply its exclusive control over water resources, effectively overruling the European Union's belief that each river basin should be administered as a single unit.

Further problems have been created by the fact that many of the most important points outlined in the regions' law books are contradictory ? for example, some regions' assertion of the right to access surplus water goes against the right to reserve water that other regions want access to, etc.

Recent years have seen a number of attempts to create legal formulas that give the state the final say in how water is used, but only after extensive consultation and agreement with regional governments. But proposals to introduce changes to the National Water Act, which would involve appointing key positions in the country's different water authorities has prompted complaints, with the subsequent decision to delay any changes to the law.

The regional government of Andalusia, which has traditionally made much of its "scrupulous respect" for the Constitution and the state's powers outlined in it, has now said that it will look for what it describes as political solutions that would allow it to retain control over water resources there. But experience is increasingly showing that the Constitution is absolutely correct in giving exclusive control to the state over the use of water resources to avoid precisely the kind of interminable conflicts between the regions that we are now seeing.

That said, it remains to be seen if decisions such as the Constitutional Court's will encourage regional politicians to see sense and stop using the issue of water management for their own ends.