Indicadores hídricos de sostenibilidad y desarrollo turístico y residencial en la Costa Blanca (Alicante)

Resumen

Water availability determines the economic growth potential of a territory. The Costa Blanca is an area with a shortage of renewable water resources which has gone through a deep economic, demographic, social and natural transformation between 1950 and the present day. The statistical confirmation of this change can be found in the values reached by the usual indicators: participation in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment generation, disposable family income (DFI), population growth, degree of concentration, etc. The new economic orientation implies increasing the volume of water resources in order to guarantee the revaluation of the territory. The responses to ensure urban supply in its three geographical areas are different: exploitation of its own groundwater resources in the North; joint management of surface and groundwater in the central area; and use of the Tajo-Segura aqueduct hydraulic infrastructure in the South. These actions have made it possible both to meet the growing demand for urban supply and to guarantee a sustainable tourist and residential development. The growth of the population and its concentration along the coast, the development of hydraulic and service infrastructures, the increased capacity of reservoirs, the performance of the distribution network, the volume of flow treated, and the income level are all significant indicators of an improved competitiveness level of the territory and identify tourist and residential areas as a privileged domain within the general framework of imbalance in terms of economic growth and sustainability, with respect to inland areas.