Spain: The Government plans to create a water observatory

The Government proposes to create a technical reference center that acts as a Balearic observatory for water and responsible for coordinating the publication of statistics, reports and studies as well as providing forums for citizen participation to achieve more sustainable consumption of this resource.

This was reflected in the document "Balear Strategy for Communication Sustainable Water Management" which has drawn up the Ministry of Environment through the Directorate General of Water Resources and with the collaboration of many experts.

The guide marks several objectives to be achieved in a first phase that goes from 2010 to 2015, such as reducing demand for water for urban use and industrial 10% in each case, and is about 15% for agricultural uses , livestock and golf.

It also seeks to improve the status of groundwater, reducing pollution and the ecological status of wetlands and coastal water bodies.

The strategy is to provide "criteria and agreed guidelines" for communication, information and efficient formation of water-related issues in the Balearic Islands, as says the head of Research and Planning of the Directorate General of Water Resources, Alfredo Baron Périz .

One of the steps in this direction will be the development of a handbook of communication-in which work is already underway, according to Baron Périz, which shall, to all sectors involved in communication, design and planning of actions to be carried out to encourage savings.

The paper, based on the opinion of 35 experts from all sectors, advocates a change of strategy: to avoid the catastrophic and widespread alarm, complete with the "patch management" and with the political decision "hasty and unwise."

It is, however, to "work with more foresight" to a close communication with society, providing real examples, proposing challenges and implement effective sanctions and public, among other things.

But to actually change the current situation, the new communication strategy of the Government stresses the need to work primarily in two areas that have historically been forgotten: the countryside and tourism (hotel and yacht business.)