Two new rulings have agreed with the government on 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 directed into the Mediterranean for irrigation and domestic consumption in Tagus -Segura transfer. The National Court of Justice has dismissed the controversial administrative appeal lodged by the Region of Murcia (ruled by the PP) in 2019 seeking a doubling of the amount transferred, while the Supreme Court has shelved the appeal by the Generalitat Valenciana de Ximo Puig (PSOE), which It was declared in presented in 2021. The two rulings, which add to the same vein to five other previous Supreme Court rulings, come at a time when water warfare has resumed, having come into force mid-this month, a recent cut in the amount of water that can be transferred, something that rejected by Murcia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community (who presented new resources) demanding more water, while Castilla-La Mancha celebrates it.
The judgments known today respond to two appeals that do not take into account the last change in ecological flow, which was set at an average of 6 cubic meters per year and has now increased by 7 cubic meters per second in Aranjuez since the approval of the Basin Rehabilitation Plan until 2026. In January this year it will increase to 8 cubic meters, and in 2027 to 8.6. The greater this flow, the less water can be diverted to be sent to Murcia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community.
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Murcia’s appeal protested because a transfer of 7.5 cubic hectometers from the Entrepeñas-Buendía reservoirs had been ordered in November 2019, while the Murcia executive asked for 14.7 hectometers, claiming the Tagus had sufficient reserves to allow them that to send what they requested The applicants understood that the government did not adequately justify its proposal for a reduced transfer, which was rejected by the First Division of the contested Administrative Chamber of the National Court, which also concluded that the Ministry of Ecological Transition with “Prevention and precaution” acted “before the hydrological situation. This judgment will be appealed.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejects the appeal of the Valencian Community, which has requested the repeal of Royal Decree 638/2021 of July 27 (BOE of the following day), which establishes various regulatory provisions for transmission through the Tajo-Segura Aqueduct approved. at the same time sentenced Ximo Puig’s government to bear the costs. This claimed that some mandatory reports were missing, such as that from the National Water Council, but the Supreme Court understands this absence “does not invalidate” the royal decree.
Immediately after the announcement of these two new judgments, the President of Castile-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, celebrated this Monday the last two judgments which, as he stressed, “make it very clear that we have the right to water”. and that the exploitation rules of the Tagus-Segura transfer were “unfair”. During an event in Torrijos (Toledo), he announced that he would demand that the Spanish government not exhaust the existing one-year deadline to change the exploitation rules for the transfer and be “as early as possible”.
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