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Ten principles for a new water culture |
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1.
Neither flood mountain valleys nor dry up river deltas, both having
provided a home and livelihood for the generations of people who have
lived there and contributed to their identities. 2.
Preserve the rivers and the heritage which has developed alongside
them. Give the rivers back their essential functions and attributes. 3.
Manage water based on a principle of solidarity. It is a shared
inheritance which we have received and must pass on to future
generations in the best possible conditions. 4.
Save water and maintain its quality by altering natural systems as
little as possible. Reduce pollution, thus gradually limiting the
needs for purification. 5.
A sustainable management of water resources is needed, reducing waste
by a more efficient use of water, saving and reusing it. 6.
Promote a culture of participation and imagination, capable of taking
onboard the wisdom of small scale strategies and solutions as a
compulsory way to manage water. 7.
Live the reality of the water in our Mediterranean country. This
reality sets limits on the use of water and is incompatible with the
free market ideas of an unlimited offer of water paid for by the state. 8.
Forget the false demagogic explanations of productivity of water (particularly
in irrigated agriculture). Develop a more serious criteria based on
economic evaluation and full cost recovery, within a sustainable
development perspective. 9.
Use surface and ground water as one single resource, bearing in mind
that they form part of the same water cycle. Reducing the over-exploitation
or contamination of aquifers is essential for this combined management. 10.
Defend the idea of water as a public resource to be used for the
general good, rather than as a market commodity to be used for
speculation. |
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The
above principles can be summarised in two:
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