Recently I read an article on the drying up of the Tagus river, the longest in the Iberian peninsula. The river in Spain is in danger of drying up completely due to which Spain is in the grip of drought. The reason being the climate change, water transfer and the waste Madrid produces.

 In 1902 a plan was conceived to siphon off water from here and divert it to the Segura river to irrigate farms in the arid southeast in what is known as the Tajo-Segura transfer. Construction began in 1966 and water started flowing out of the dammed Tagus headwaters to the Segura in 1979.

However, the amount of available water was miscalculated and Spain?s cyclical droughts were not factored in. Today only 47% of the predicted water resources exist and levels in the two headwater dams are down to 11% capacity, too low to allow any transfers.

The transfer has served to create social and political conflict and turn the Tagus into one of the rivers in the worst ecological state in the peninsula.

The Tagus?s troubles don?t end with the transfer. Even after about 65% is siphoned to the Segura, it still has to supply Madrid?s 6 million inhabitants, whose inadequately treated waste water is dumped back into the river further downstream. The water from the Tagus is also used to cool nuclear reactors. Since water has always been a scarce resource in Spain, its demand needs to be controlled.

The article is an eye opening for all of us. Besides being an important water resource, the river has a cultural, social, historic and aesthetic value as it has the power to create or destroy life. Being an Indian I know how our religions and customs have been woven around rivers.

Need of the hour is to stop the misuse of water and change the way and the amount of water we are pulling from the water bodies and ground, in addition to addressing larger ecological and climate issues that have an impact on our water supply as well, otherwise our future generations will struggle heavily for water they will need for their life itself.