Andalusia considers more irrigation near Spanish wetlands

By JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A controversial plan to increase irrigation in an area adjoining one of Europe’s most prized wetlands has won initial approval from lawmakers in southern Spain’s Andalusia region. The proposal to rezone the lands for irrigation goes against the advice of ecologists and repeated warnings from European officials. If the bill becomes law, between 1,000 and 1,500 hectares of land near the Doñana nature reserve will be declared as irrigable. Critics of the bill say this would act as an amnesty for the many farms that already use illegal wells to tap into the aquifer underlying the wetlands to grow strawberries that are exported across Europe.