El fin del regadío tradicional y la creación de sociedades mercantiles para la venta de agua. Riegos de Levante margen derecha del Segura

Abstract

This paper analyses the activities of Riegos de Levante on the right bank of the River Segura, a water company created in the white heat of Restoration politics that raised exaggerated hopes for the irrigation of one of the areas of greatest hydraulic deficit on the Iberian Peninsula. The delusion came with the water control works carried out in the Segura basin stimulated by the rise in fruit and vegetable growing. The new irrigated land, the result of a concession established on the basis of the volume of flow of the River Segura close to its mouth, occupied approximately 4,000 hectares and was originally regarded as "abusive irrigation", while the company that sold the water was highly questioned by users. The irrigation users formed an organisation and their irrigated lands were declared to be "traditional". This meant, firstly, that their preferential right to the controlled volumes of flow from the Segura catchment area was recognised, and, later, as a consequence of the insufficiency of the latter, they were granted an allowance from the Tajo-Segura transfer. However, the irrigated area thus created never had access to the promised water resources, whose shortage was particularly pronounced in the numerous drought periods that occurred, something that also led to a considerable rise in the price of water.