Two new rulings endorse the cut in flow for the Tajo-Segura transfer

Two new rulings have agreed with the Government in its decision to increase the ecological flow of the Tagus (the minimum amount of water that must circulate), which means a reduction in the amount of water sent to the Mediterranean for irrigation and domestic consumption through the Tagus-Segura transfer. The National Court has rejected the contentious-administrative appeal presented by the Region of Murcia (governed by the PP) in 2019 to double the amount transferred, while the Supreme Court has shelved that of the Generalitat Valenciana de Ximo Puig (PSOE), which It was presented in 2021. The two sentences, which are added to five other previous ones from the Supreme Court in the same sense, come at a time when the water war has been reopened, after entering into force in the middle of this month in the last cut of the transferable water volume, something rejected by Murcia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community (which have presented new resources), which demand more water, while Castilla-La Mancha celebrates it.

The sentences, known today, respond to two appeals that do not contemplate the last change in the ecological flow, which was established at 6 cubic meters on average per year and has now risen in Aranjuez by 7 cubic meters per second since the approval of the recovery plan. basin until 2026. In January of that year it will rise to 8 cubic meters and in 2027, to 8.6. The greater this flow, the less water can be diverted to transfer to Murcia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community.

Murcia’s appeal protested because in November 2019 a transfer of 7.5 cubic hectometres had been decreed from the Entrepeñas-Buendía reservoirs, while the Murcian Executive claimed 14.7 hectometres, alleging that the Tagus had sufficient reserves to send them what what they asked for The appellants understood that the Government did not sufficiently motivate its reduced transfer proposal, something that has been rejected by the First Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Court, which also concludes that the Ministry for Ecological Transition acted with ” prevention and precaution” before the hydrological situation. Against this ruling there is an appeal.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejects the appeal of the Valencian Community, which requested the annulment of Royal Decree 638/2021, of July 27 (BOE of the following day), which approves various regulatory regulations for the transfer through the Tajo-Segura aqueduct, at the same time which condemns the Government of Ximo Puig to pay the costs. This alleged that some mandatory reports were missing, such as that of the National Water Council, but the high court understands that said absence “does not invalidate” the royal decree.

As soon as these two new rulings became known, the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, celebrated the last two rulings this Monday, which, as he highlighted, “make it very clear that we have the right to water” and that the rules of exploitation of the Tagus-Segura transfer are “unfair”. During an act in Torrijos (Toledo), he has announced that he is going to demand that the Government of Spain not exhaust the one-year period that exists to change the rules of exploitation of the transfer and “be as early as possible”.