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Abstract:In this article, we analyze how successful the implementation of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in the Ebro river catchment (in Spain) has been. Our main aim is to show some gaps between theory and practice. This implies analyzing the political dimensions of governance and their change and reflecting on the interface between governance and technical knowledge about water. We highlight problems, such as the lack of institutional coordination, blind spots in technical information and path dependences. Actual water management has led to plans for further irrigation even though water availability is, and is expected to continue, shrinking due to climate change and other local factors. To overcome these mismatches, we propose further synchronization, innovative ways of public participation and knowledge sharing between institutions and researchers. As a showcase, we portray a practical real example of a desirable institutional arrangement in one sub-catchment.

A distinction is commonly drawn in Hydrology between 'green' and 'blue water' in accounting for total water availability in semi-arid regions. The criterion underlying this classification is important for successful water management, because it reveals how much natural water is and/or could be used by households, industry and, especially, agriculture. The relative share of green and blue water is generally treated as a constant. In recent years, a growing hydro-geological literature has focused on a phenomenon that significantly affects the stability of the green/blue water ratio. This is the increase in land cover density and its impact on runoff in regions with a Mediterranean climate, such as the Ebro Basin in Spain. We seek to carry this knowledge over into the parameters of disciplines concerned with the economic valuation of water and territorial resources, and translate it into the language used by water management professionals in the expectation that this contribution will improve the way we assess and account for real water availability. The heart of the matter is that the increasing density of forest cover produces both positive and negative environmental and economic impacts, presenting new economic and environmental problems that must be examined and assessed in a hydrological-economic context. We will show that these positive and negative effects are sufficiently important to merit attention, whether they are measured in physical or economic terms. Finally, we make an initial proposal for the economic valuation of some of the effects produced by these hydrological changes.Additional key words: blue water; green water; hydro-economic framework; water resources accounting. ResumenIntegración de los enfoques hidrológico y económico en la gestión del agua y del territorio en climas mediterráneos: un caso inicial de estudio para la agricultura Es conocida en Hidrología la distinción entre 'agua verde' y 'agua azul' con respecto a la contabilidad de las disponibilidades agregadas de agua. El criterio tras esta clasificación tiene gran importancia para una correcta gestión del agua, ya que permite saber qué parte de las aportaciones naturales es aprovechada y/o aprovechable para los usos de los hogares y del sistema productivo, especialmente en la agricultura. En los últimos años se ha generado abundante literatura que pone en cuestión la estabilidad de las participaciones relativas agua verde/azul desde el ámbito de la hidrogeología. Se trata del considerable aumento de la densidad de la cubierta vegetal y sus efectos sobre la escorrentía en regiones de clima mediterráneo como la Cuenca del Ebro en España. En ese contexto, este trabajo pretende transferir ese conocimiento al lenguaje y los parámetros de las disciplinas del ámbito de la gestión y la valoración económica de los recursos hídricos y del territorio. La cuestión que emerge, y que plantea nuevos problemas ambientales y económicos, es que detrás del aumento de la densidad de las superficies forestales hay efectos positivos y negativos qu...

The aim of this paper is to construct and apply a model for the allocation of water between two competing users, namely irrigation and hydropower. The model is applied in a case study of a specific water system located in North Eastern Spain. Starting with an irrigation-hydropower joint income function, we develop a constrained maximisation process that takes into account the environmental, institutional and actual priority of the water rights. The resulting solution can be useful as a guide for potential bargains between users. Furthermore, we evaluate the results for different supply (precipitation) and water allotments (increase in irrigated land). The results show that there are sufficient incentives so as to reach agreements that lead to improvements in a Pareto sense without side payments.