It’s only fair to share it out

FOLLOWING news that work is to be done in neighbouring Granada to lay pipes from the Rules reservoir down to the coast, which farmers have been demanding for more than 10 years, an Almeria agricultural association has been quick to remind the authorities of old plans to include pipes to neighbouring provinces in the work creating a so-called water motorway.

In spite of rumours of the possibility of the water from the reservoir being shared with Granada’s neighbours, there are no official plans for this, however farmers insist it would be the way forward and have sent their request to the Junta de Andalucia regional government along with viability studies to prove it is possible.

Although the news made those on Granada’s Costa Tropical wary, understandably since they have been waiting years for their water and fear it could be sent elsewhere, the ‘motorway’ would in fact only be used to avoid surplus water being thrown away and could work both ways, with excess being sent from one area to another as required, explained Almeria’s largest farmers’ federation leader Jose Antonio Fernandez.

“Obviously Granada farmers should be the first to receive the water from the Rules-Beznar system, but we think there will be more than they need when it snows and that’s the water we would like to see coming our way,” Fernandez said.

The federation, which has 20,000 members responsible for more than 60,000 hectares of Almeria farmland, wishes to see a network of pipes connecting the Granada reservoir to Beninar and Cuevas del Almanzora and then crossing Almeria Province.

The network, Fernandez stressed, would avoid a drop of water going to waste and would allow neighbouring areas to share their extra liquid.