People its time to put a stop to the drilling of illegal boreholes which amounts to stealing a public asset you believe. Its thought there are over a 1000000 illegal boreholes in spain often called moonshine wells because they drilled at night they used to help irrigate grown here in one of the driest corners of europe and exported to the rest of the continent. No one wants to take responsibility i doubt anything will change unfortunately gay know whats the. Nature at its most. National park south of seville is a unesco World Heritage site and a stopover for millions of miles a true birds traveling between europe and africa but its surrounded by agricultural activity that is sucking at try. Demand for water poses a threat to this natural paradise and the legal wells are exacerbating the problem he says he. Is essential for biodiversity for the parks wetlands and fauna but its also essential for the local economy which revolves around intensive farming. But the problem is in the last 30 years that farming has led to illegal extraction of water and that has a serious impact on the parks marshes and lagoon after the groundwater levels of 4. So the water balance in doing on a National Park has been altered. Were destroying it. For the new owner. He. Has been fighting to protect anjana National Park for 16 years the agricultural engineer comes from the region and has made the campaign against illegal wells his lifes mission he uses satellite imaging to locate newly drilled for holes and illegal agriculture. As well as Marshall Fields these are oficial government maps may show legal agricultural areas. It is its a map thats available to the general public. So what do we do we end our experts look for unauthorized farmers zoom in and identify areas where crops are being cultivated you. Know the failure is this and this and this or all know if we pass our findings on to the authorities and report the illegal zones when we identify anything suspicious we go and check it out and one of them i will write a book. But the activist says the authorities off a little help in the fight to protect the regions Natural Environment reporting illegal wells and farms usually goes nowhere its deeply frustrating. Forgot about a good thing we see that crops are being cultivated here at this farm suddenly appeared about 2 years ago. It was right next to the road but its not being shut down even though everyone knows its here. Its been reported to the Water Authority i didnt get a computer if you got anything yet. Illegal farming and authorities to turn a blind eye despite the fact there are clear rules on irrigation practices laid out in a Water Management plan that farmers n. G. O. S and local authorities spend 7 years debating. On that but all the andalusia in parliament approved the plan in december 2014 illegal farming must be stopped and we hope this happens. I think. That will connect. In these areas of cultivation have sprouted up over the last. 30 years and there was no local oversight local council simply allowed this boom in illegal farming to happen. It seems to me so that i could clean things you know my. Around here on a National Park water is used mainly to irrigate strawberry plantations the region for juice is approximately one 3rd of strawberries grown in europe. Strawberry production is a major source of employment 80000 people in the living in the sector including many small holders and their families local environmental activists who are against the practice are often denounced as traitors. What about going to look into the no this is an illegal war at all there are roughly a 1000 of them and dont wanna we have these are especially agree just because were in the middle of a protected forest but there are 60 illegal wells here alone for extracting water from rivers or longs and no wetlands thank you dan that i walk. About and its shocking because you can even see the fields when but out of fear 567 kilometers away. They run lines from here to the farms and often they lay kilometers of electric cables to right through the forest without any kind of permanent or safety precautions but we have thought for the Palestinian People theres a high risk of forest fires this is been going on for 10 years or so you know what if its scandalous. And not it went up but often. I. Mean i think if you look at its tricky trying to follow the pipes because they disappear into the ground reappear and then disappear again we if you think that i would be watching the. It was and i said you know this is in illegal reservoir you know wooded area. You know its illegal you can install a reservoir here you know. Each of these pipes is a well made but if it doesnt take a little bit of and you can clearly see that theyre in operation. I found it we got a phone at the at the idea that what you gave the water from about 14 wells in the vicinity used collected here and pumped 2 farms that arent even close by. No siree most often this is one of the most flagrant examples of the kind of illegal activity weve been fighting for years. Its high time we took a step forward and put a stop to water thank you. I know there are a growing number of locals and the European Commission are pushing for the European Court of justice has opened proceedings against the Spanish Government in connection with water theft and done with it what i want to. Monoculture is a by no means for strictly titania on a National Park the Agricultural Sector is essential thirst for water is transforming the andalusian landscape as a ground water supply is by no means guaranteed. A turning contractor luis montenegros business is thriving a test costs around 2000 euros but its a risky investment for his clients and theres a long wait for a permit from the Water Authority. Is it when a farmer submit said trailing project to the authorities. It can take up to 8 or 9 months to get a reply. Thats just unacceptable the Water Authority takes ages but farmers need to irrigate their crops if they cant they lose their harvests if you know. And then the families and farms end up ruined the media. And. What often happens is the farmers opt not to pay for an approved drilling. Because what happens if no water is found. There is no well and the bore hole has to be referred. To take it up by the way dont you know the above them. The upshot farmers often drill boreholes without official permits along with the costs of drilling submitting an application and commissioning of requisite geological surveys can cost around a 1000. 00 euros here in central angelous all of pharma antonios wife has even resorted to divine ing rod they need water urgently their trees are hard hit by Climate Change the dry season is getting longer and longer. A. Lot of that going to the trees get no water there will be no olives. Obviously we have to use water before the official permit comes through thats just how it is. The drilling contractor is pessimistic tomorrow the company will try again at a different spot you know her way out that you cant see a thing just a black hole theres no water and if there was the soil would be more sed here in the region theres very little water thats the wrong sort of bedrock out while the radio highly of the people at the end of. The month try and extract a lot of water groundwater levels are falling you see natural gas Everyone Wants a private pool the Agricultural Sectors demand for water is growing. Here in Southern Europe we depend on farming people that are going to be good archaeological the farming sector that helped the country survive the most recent financial crisis. Get a lot from them during the financial crisis that left spain reeling farming was indeed one of the few stable sectors but its growth is now reaching its limit phillipe of sas from the World Wide Fund for nature wants to see the sec to manage Water Resources more sustainably. We are on our way to a citrus fruit farm that we work with you got that its the 1st farm in europe to be certified according to a system that manages water consumption sustainable. Daily monitoring is absolutely essential its about respecting a commodity that Everyone Wants to have water which is in short supply in this farm is Proof Positive that water consumption can be realistically reduced you can get a full bottle so that what. The. Consumers have an Important Role to play but if you think oh they decide which product they buy that they need to ask for the product comes from and if found somewhere with a water shortage thats where im portland. Or so. But make other supermarkets also decide where they buy their produce from they can check whether its all sounds and thats what the Water Authority map is for but if everythings above board great you see what im the philip pestilent of science is here to inspect the plantation luis but is one of the 1st farmers whose working living you want to certification scheme he supplies a major german Supermarket Chain with organic oranges his plantation is massive producing 12000 tonnes of oranges per year morsi is safe with the help of the census system it can make stars on the air quality animations changes in the plants crucially senses in the Ground Control a drip irrigation system ensuring that the water is distributed around the crops roots and doesnt simply trickle away little portable field so we maximize efficiency with a drip irrigation system and censors. You middle we dont waste any water and we add fertilizer to the water which doesnt seeped into the groundwater and contaminate it with nitrates. I mean im a lot. That helps us a lot but its revolutionary when i get on. We use 20 percent less water all around the harvest so the same goes for human i mean michael said just. So you know good morning everyone hello how you doing carmen good. You know and idea im very. Hows it looking great were getting a lot from every tree. Of that if. It doesnt all. 135140 kilos poetry where youve worked on it and the quality of the fruit well. You know. Its. Good because its nice and dense. Delicious what you. Get when. It could theres hardly any pulp. From the end there will not be turn open the gate. And. More land is placing his trust in nature hes cut down on herbicides and pesticides and his promotion a process of rematch ration insects and birds keep the crops free of pests the farmer is reacting to the growing demand for organic produce and also for water footprint certification lead. Me to get one just look at that thats our eagle are over there by the power cable. Its a benelli 0. 0. You never used to see a bird like that. And now without even making much of a change just minimising the use of toxins so as not to destroy its environment its back. Some farmers thought i was crazy theyd ask why are you doing that. Youre putting your whole farm at risk. But now 5 years on. Worked hard and they see it works. Now everybody wants to do what i did it all. Agricultural revolution of the 21st century has begun. No doubt about it. That over there is no longer our farm look at the difference. You know its like another world. I call it the desert your your money so thats chernobyl for me yes. But i mean its a generally. This is because thats their idea of state of the art agriculture that people will know that. You respond is fortunate because he gets the water he needs for his plantation from a canal assigned to him by the Water Authority so hes never needed to drill a well if theres one thing he knows is that the future depends on Sustainable Management of Water Resources. They. Need to realize that the point of saving water isnt to expand irrigation areas. Separate. What we save must be set aside for the dry season wondering on ciggy or return to the rivers. There are real numbers that get out if we cannot save water just so other farmers can water even more but the real target for not that only exacerbates the problem more land more consumption my think. I. See. It says. Recent years have seen the popularity of the avocadoes sole demand for this sub tropical fruit has risen the 150 percent in the last decade but that has a downside for farmers are eager to cash in but avocado production is highly water intensive and is worsening the water process inspiring. It takes 270 liters of water to grow just one of a card out of spain is affectively exporting its Water Resources in the form of fruit i. Hardly ever around is president of the Spanish Association of tropical fruit produces. Were going off to have a game of it was ok so the avocado isnt native to spain but nora bananas only all of the trees and night it without a pot its adapted perfectly to the climate will come of it you can see how well avocados grow here why shouldnt they be cultivated here quickly and often where the plant that i work up for harvests get bigger every year in 28 in spain exported 97000 tonnes of avocados found my local if they think that environmental activists are always attacking tropical fruit fama some of the weekend they think were destroying everything in the world in the i dont understand their issue where theyre against their own people and. I really dont want to destroy anything that weve got. Were helping the country people by providing them with jobs. For the other thing we could grow twice as much but there isnt enough water on there wasnt. For the Pharmacy Association growth is the top priority any water they say thanks to modern Irrigation Systems gets used to expand their plantations there also came to more rivers and drill boreholes much Higher Elevations they say they had. Been left with no choice but to act outside. The Water Authority used to have a lot of officers here but now there are only 4 people left. We the others only moved to the headquarters in seville. Now theres a new administration we hope the situation will start to improve for 12 years the author did not think that that meant that no one even looked at our proposals. They never replied he wasnt even that they were slow they did nothing at all. Because i want to thank you. Philippa for one tells us also has problems with bureaucracy. The Water Management plan approved in 2014 has yet to be implemented hes hoping that things will start to move at the Water Authority because whats happening into yana potentially contravenes his water directive and that could jeopardize agricultural subsidies and today hes here to talk to the president of the Water Authority ok double what it would do all the farmers and under lose you know exactly how much water they can use and where it comes from to help develop the Water Management plan it doesnt but if you buy that it is available but some farmers have resorted to drastic measures to impede the authorities work in the end you know that at the end because i mean there it was on september 29th youre on the same day that representatives of the European Commission were in madrid. To talk to the government about the water problem and you dont know which. One of my employees was threatened by farmers who were illegally extracting water. He wouldnt. Been intimidated by a Whatsapp Group and we cannot let this sort of thing happen. Its difficult. Because these people are often neighbors the ones who object to do it broadcast really tact. Because were trying to stop illegal water extraction and then. We did the most about it i was with will look for the money you know where. The water authorities inspectors task is a highly delicate one given the pharmacy hostility theyre now accompanied by the police they reluctantly agreed to being filmed on condition they cant be identified fear of being recognised by the neighbors is too great. Lets have a look at the reservoir see how many well supplied record the g. P. S. Data. You are telling and take some more photos. Of today theyre inspecting more than 60 illegal bore holes in the forest many farmers see them as backstabbers. Lets go take a look. If we cant open it its locked. But why are we going in. Here because its locked. You know the person who set this up for instance and locked it in so no one could fall and. Theres nothing more we can do and all we inspect. Everything else is up to the government the water all 30 in the courts. You know what. The Water Authority is powerless it has no mandate to intervene and is incapacitated by break. So lets get a few pictures of the lock. Of the water coming out. So we can show that the wells are functional. On our look for the wells where the water is coming from. What you know back there must be a well the water from the pipe there must be coming from a well over there here over there but. The water from the illegal bore holes feeds into the illegal Pipeline Network i mean although they drilled under cover of darkness traces are often left behind when. You got a look at the cars drive along here so there must be something up their trip to get out. Of this have a look. Here pipes and over there to. The ecological local. Public local heres the fuse box. Its operating. At the time to look to get him out the pipes must come from other well so that may come together here handy to the reservoir that he if. It was. We followed their path as about 6 kilometers of pipe and houses then theres a point where they go into the ground and a little further on they reappear. A lot and they split into 6 differ