The main objective of the National Hydrological Plan of Spain is to transfer water from the Ebro River to basins along the Mediterranean coast. However, fundamental studies that should have been carried out before the Plan was approved are still not available. Among these are cost-benefit analyses of the transfer, nature of its beneficiaries, potential users who can afford this high-priced water, and social and environmental impacts of the project. In addition, the proposed transfer of water does not reflect modern thinking on water management, nor does it consider the latest technological alternatives.

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The National Hydrological Plan Act was passed after the publishing of Community Directive 2000/60/EC. Officially, the Act has taken the existence of the Directive into account, but its handling of the regulation of the Ebro transfer ignores fundamental issues of the Directive, in that it does not envisage the principle of cost recovery, does not clearly determine the uses to which the transferred waters will be put, and it is not orientated towards sustainable development. Furthermore, Spanish public contract law is not in line with Community Law, and this may have repercussions in the practical aspect of possible European subsidies for carrying out the transfer.

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