Farmers are the main ones affected, along with the Doñana National Park, by the bill launched yesterday by fast track by the PP, which will allow "amnesty" for farmers who use water for their crops irregularly. Some say that they only want surface water when it is available and others say that the water that will come from a future transfer of the Tinto, Odiel and Piedras rivers, has another destination: to replace those that are legally extracted in order to alleviate the pressure of the aquifers.
Manuel Delgado, spokesman for the Puerta Doñana Farmers' Association, explained to La Vanguardia that the proposal is "as outrageous as a castle." "Amnesty is being awarded to farmers who have been cultivating illegally for 10 and 15 years."
On the other hand, Julio Díaz, spokesman for the Platform in Defense of County Irrigation, is in favor of the controversial proposition that "has been agreed to the last comma" with them. Díaz argues that what they want is to “recover the land so that, when there is water on the surface, it can be cultivated”, “we do not want to irrigate with the aquifers, we will wait for the water from the transfer to arrive”, he assures.
But really “there is no water left” for everyone, not even when the long-awaited transfer of the Tinto, Odiel and Piedras rivers arrives, because those water resources are already assigned, explains Delgado. "We don't care if they expand irrigation, but we cannot allow it to be to the detriment of Almonte's farmers." This directly affects them because, although the Platform in Defense of County Irrigation says that they only want to use water from the transfer, "if new concessions keep the water, we will not be able to change part of our legal extractions for surface water or for therefore, relieve the pressure of the aquifer that is overexploited”, “that is the big lie”, explains this farmer.
It is clear that the solution to this decades-long conflict is not simple. "There is no magic wand, it has to be a mix of solutions," says Delgado. “The transfer alleviates but it is not a panacea”, “we are working on the recovery of purified water and a desalination plant could be a solution”, but what “cannot be done based on a decree”. "This is approved to avoid reports, which would all be negative."
On the other hand, Díaz does see that this proposal can help the cause of the farmers of his Platform, although he agrees that treated water could be part of the solution, since, according to his data, "with recovered water we could recover up to 40 cubic hectometres, double the transfer”.
The friction between the different sides has existed for decades and now this tension is once again aggravated with the urgent implementation of this proposal that seeks to legalize irrigation in illegal agricultural exploitations for the moment.
The Platform in Defense of County Irrigation, in favor of the proposal, accuses the Puerta Doñana Farmers Association of being "5 farmers who have brought their families and some Moroccan workers" to the plenary session of the Almonte City Council "to make see that they are very large", a statement denied by Delgado, who assures that his association represents 52% of the affected territory, more than 4,000 hectares.
Delgado explains that if the voices of the farmers who are against this bill are heard less, it is because they are threatened. "The president of our association, who was the vice president of the Platform, was threatened with throwing him into a garbage can," he assures La Vanguardia, "no farmer wants to signify himself because here we all know each other, they know what our farms are and whoever he means tomorrow he could see his farm burning.”
For his part, Díaz believes that “The Northern Crown plan has caused social fracture and harm to hundreds of families and now it has to be restored. We need justice and social peace ”, he assures La Vanguardia.
