The underground aquifer of Tierra de Barros, in the province of Badajoz, is overexploited. So much so that the Hydrographic Confederation of Guadiana (CHG) warned in 2015 about its state in terms of quantity, but also in terms of quality due to the presence of nitrates. In this region full of vineyards and olive trees, the Minister of Agriculture of Extremadura, Mercedes Morán, is co-owner of a plot of vineyard of almost 3.5 hectares of dry land that has an illegal well.
As you may have known elDiario.es ExtremaduraThe CHG “is not aware” of this use of groundwater, which is why it is not registered, despite the fact that this newspaper was able to verify how this area of trellised vineyard has a construction shed from which emerges a system. Drip irrigation of the rows of vines.
The groundwater body of Tierra de Barros covers an area of 1,727 square kilometers, is located between 30 and 50 meters deep, is fed by rainwater through the Guadiana axis and has an annual renewal capacity of 25.6 cubic hectometers, although this figure was later corrected upwards, to 27.3 cubic hectometers. It also receives contributions from irrigation leaks. In relation to this annual recharge capacity, the extraction permits recognized in 2015, when the risk of the aquifer was declared, were 25.94, so measures were taken to prevent its depletion.
That year, permits for new water abstractions were suspended and the granting of new rights was restricted as much as possible, according to the action program, approved in 2021 and which sets a validity period until 2027, although it can be extended if the objective is not achieved and the aquifer remains overexploited. However, there is a “general decline in the levels of the accumulated groundwater mass during the period 2014-2023”, as reflected in a meeting of the exploitation council of this aquifer in December 2023.
A sanctioned vineyard
The Minister of Agriculture, Mercedes Morán, explained to elDiario.es that she is “aware of the situation of her plot”, although she hides behind the fact that she “does not exploit nor has she exploited at any time” this land, but rather is “another owner”. The other person she describes as co-owner is her brother.
Morán also assured that he learned of the existence of this illegal irrigation system after a “field inspection” by the ministry for which he is responsible and that the “person who exploits” the vineyard was subject to the relevant sanctions in terms of aid and conditionality of the CAP. “That is to say, the law was scrupulously applied,” he stressed.
Paradoxically, despite having an irrigation system, the Extremadura councilor did not want to include her land in the Tierra de Barros irrigation system, a macro-project that has been in the works for three decades and that the government of María Guardiola has left without funds. However, around 1,200 farmers in the region have decided to legally convert their arid lands into irrigated lands and will have to pay 65 million euros for the project out of their own pockets.
This irrigation will take water from the Alange and Villalba de los Barros reservoirs to irrigate 15,000 hectares of arid land, for which works will have to be undertaken that will entail expropriations. One of these expropriations concerns the councilor and her brother, since it is the same plot that has an illegal well.
In opposition, as spokesman for the Popular Parliamentary Group, he criticized the “scratching” of the then socialist junta of Extremadura to the expropriated farmers because they were going to “practically give up” their lands to be able to “invade” them. That was in 2021. Shortly after, with the PP government, the Extremadura government put obstacles in the way of the start of a project that devalues the assets of its head of Agriculture, so there is a possible conflict of interest. Death was signed at the beginning of the summer when 104 million euros of European funds that should have been allocated to the irrigation of Tierra de Barros were stolen and dedicated to other projects. All this in a political storm with accusations between the PP and the PSOE, which led to the launch of a commission of inquiry in the Assembly to try to find out why this project has not yet come to fruition.
Meanwhile, the PP remained alone in the Junta de Extremadura after Vox split from the coalition government, a staunch defender of irrigation despite the climate emergency. So much so that when the bipartisanship still existed, the far right threatened to abandon the 2025 budget if money was not provided to undertake the project in Tierra de Barros “at will and with its own funds”. The president, María Guardiola, threw things into the air, recalling the cost of the infrastructure (240 million euros) and the need to also count on aid from the State and Europe.
However, it now seems that these sources of funding are not so necessary and in the framework of the negotiations of the new autonomous accounts between the PP, in the minority, and the rest of the parties, Guardiola announced by surprise a match of 20 million euros to start irrigation in 2025 in order to win the favors of Vox, even if this promise is far from the 35 million demanded by his former partner.
