8/14/2019 Has The 'Tragedy Of The Commons' Scenario Finally Reached Almeria?

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Has The 'Tragedy Of The Commons' Scenario Finally Reached Almeria?

Fresh drinking water is one of our most scarce and valuable resources, yet wecarelessly waste it everyday! In the wake of the recent lack of water supply in,among others, the Limaria, Arboleas, Los Llanos regions of South East Spain, Iwondered if this is not an example of Garrett Hardins parable Tragedy of theCommons written in 1968. His parable asks you to imagine an ancient common

pasture on which all herdsmen grazed their animals. It could work for centuriesbecause tribal wars, poaching, and disease of both man and animal kept populationsbelow the maximum carrying capacity of the land.

Imagine then the following scenario whereby one of the herdsmen takes it uponhimself to add more animals to the grazing land. Seeing this, his neighbourdecides to do the same and so does his neighbour and so on. Overgrazing wouldoccur and the animals would die through lack of grass to eat and the humanpopulation would decline with the shortage of fresh meat.

Here in our part of Almeria, water, as in many other parts of Southern Spain, is aresource that rarely commands the reverence it deserves. We live in a water scarceregion and yet we happily wash our cars, fill our swimming pools and flush the

toilet every time we visit the smallest room. It is not just ex-pats that arecomplacent but the Spanish are becoming that way too. Prior to the constructionboom locals would happily wash down the pathway outside their house in fullknowledge that there would be water all year round. (Hardins parable part one)They still do, but the water has now run out. (Hardins parable part two)

The influx of mass construction in the area has fuelled the problem of watersupply. With hundreds, if not thousands of new houses under construction in a 40kmradius of Albox, who knows how many times we will be without water in theforthcoming years. It is after all a finite not an infinite resource. Once it isgone it is gone until the rains come. Gregor Meerganz von Medeazza in 2004commented In Almeria alone, about 100,000 holiday homes and 10 golf courses -each using as much water as a town of 10,000 people - have received planning

permission on the basis that water would arrive to satisfy their needs. Thesupply of water is through desalination plants and piped water from the North ofSpain. However, this does not include the inland regions such as the Albox areawhere property is predominantly for residential rather than tourist accommodation.

The current situation in construction, if it continues, will replicate Hardinsparable, if indeed it has not already done so. More animals (construction) resultsin a greater demand for grass (water). The demand starts at the construction stageand continues on beyond completion and could eventually result in people leavingthe area due to lack of water supply.

I wonder how many people are truly aware of how finite the water resources are inthis area. I can envisage the day soon whereby local councils will demand the

cutting off of the water supply for a period of time each day. As I write this weare into our fifth day without water who knows how long before it flows again.Perhaps we should all sit back and think about how we use this precious resource.Maybe we should all fit guttering to our houses and have a water barrel to collectthe water and use it for watering gardens. When backwashing your pool, pipe thewater into water barrels and after a few days when the sediment has settled to thebottom return it to the pool or use it for the garden. All new houses shouldincorporate a system that utilises waste water from showers, baths, washingmachines and dishwashers to flush toilets. Or have a special 1000litre tank put inunderground to store the grey water so that it can be used on the garden. Everytoilet should be a duel flush, anything to help conserve our most precious

8/14/2019 Has The 'Tragedy Of The Commons' Scenario Finally Reached Almeria?

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resource.

Conceivably, if we all do something to conserve water Hardins parable would notbe a tragedy rather a success story of humanity resolving an issue before itbecomes a tragedy.

These concepts are applicable to every nation in the world. Fresh water is afinite commodity and far more should be undertaken by construction companies to

ensure that grey water is reused in some way.