A Tale of Two Dams: The Impact of Reservoir Management on Rural Depopulation in Central Spain

Beatriz Larraz () and Enrique San-Martín González
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Beatriz Larraz: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2021, vol. 35, issue 14, No 5, 4769-4787

Abstract: Abstract In rural areas, depopulation is mainly due to a lack of economic and employment opportunities. In this context, the reservoirs already built can be a source of socioeconomic development based on tourism and outdoor leisure activities. The condition for this development to materialize is that reservoir management considers these activities. In Central Spain, a process of rural depopulation has been generated in the municipalities around the reservoirs at the Upper Tagus River, as water management allows water transfers from the Tagus to the Segura River without taking into account regulations that prioritize and protect donor basin users. Through the comparison of reservoir water management and demographic data of two rural areas close to the reservoirs, this article reveals the direct relationship between reservoir management that enables recreational uses with its consequent socioeconomic development and the maintenance of the population in the territory. Consequently, reservoir water management based on the socioeconomic development of reservoir banks is necessary and a priority over transfers to another basin.

Keywords: Demographic challenge; Depopulation; Hydrological planning; Reservoir management; Tagus-Segura water transfer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11269-021-02938-9

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