Guadiana River Basin, Portugal & Spain – Implementing the E.U. Water Framework Directive (WFD)

Spain and Portugal share the Guadiana river basin. The river is born in Spain, then forms the border between the two countries, flows into Portugal, and forms again the border in its lower stretch until it reaches the sea. Both countries have historically come to agreements on how to distribute the water of the river basins they share, the Albufeira Convention being the last one in 1998. Previous conventions dating between 1964 and 1968 only referred to equal sharing of the river’s hydroelectrical potential, with some reference in the latter to the need for maintaining minimum water flows during the summer and to conserve fish species while respecting national regulations.

 

The 1990s marked a shift in the focus of the Convention, which was especially influenced by the imminent approval of the European Union’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) and its resulting ramifications for the implementation of the bilateral agreement in the two countries. Under the Albufeira Convention and the WFD, Spain and Portugal have started to work jointly in the Guadiana.

 

Despite the WFD’s requirements, provided tools, and regulations, steps towards the integrated management of the basin are being taken slowly and shyly. WWF is working jointly in the Guadiana basin on both sides of the border, developing restoration activities and working with farmers to improve water use in the field, and fostering the proper implementation of the WFD, commenting on plans, proposing new calculations of environmental flows, participating in the public fora, and communicating a new way of understanding water and its values in its offices.

 

Key Conclusion:

In order to magnify lessons learned towards a real integrated transboundary water management, nations, local authorities, and water authority administrators need to accelerate their efforts.