Spanish festival’s serious side: scarce water

With its cable cars and stylish architecture, Expo Zaragoza 2008 is the pride of this northeastern Spanish city, offering a feel-good theme of water and sustainable development until mid-September.

Boisterous summertime crowds pack sprawling exhibits showcasing European rivers and lakes and Middle Eastern oases. But there is a sobering message behind the international fair: a growing demand for water and the effects of climate change are making water an increasingly scarce and fought-after resource, experts say – not just in the Middle East or Africa, but also in countries like Spain.

“National and regional governments in Spain have a problem when it comes to water – primarily because of the intensifying competition among agriculture, tourism and urban development, especially along coastal areas,” said Kevin Parris, an economist at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. “And also climate change, which suggests the problem of water scarcity, will increase in the next 20 to 30 years.”

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Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

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