Identifying hydrological planning and water management and policy issues through an iterative participatory process: A coastal tourist experience in Benidorm, Spain

Water policy and hydrological planning are critical aspects regarding water supply systems adaptation to water scarcity risk, aggravated by the uncertainties that climate change may pose on water availability. The importance of the science-policy interface is especially relevant in coupled human-nature systems where different water uses and high competition for water resources (urban, agricultural, and tourist) coexist. This situation is particularly challenging in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean, subject to summer water shortages during the consumption peaks motivated by mass-tourism activity. Although national hydrological planning already includes the primary users’ participation in revising the five-year hydrological plans to reduce water conflicts and promote collaborative water management, on numerous occasions the need to improve these processes has been evidenced to propose feasible technical and political solutions in the water sector. Taking the coastal water system of the Marina Baja, located in the province of Alicante in Southeastern Spain, as example, we carried out an iterative participatory process involving the main representatives of the water sector management and both agricultural and tourism water demands to identify which topics should be collaboratively addressed to guarantee water supply in a future climate change scenario. Stakeholders’ perceptions about the main threats and needs to improve the functioning of the water system and their influence capacity, confronted interests, and power relations have been considered. Results determined that some hydrological policies applied at a regional scale, such as protocols for the monthly water discharge of reservoirs, the setting of ecological flows, or the sanitary policies for the management of swimming pool waters, collide with the individual experience and water management protocols applied by local stakeholders. Identifying these management issues through local experiences provides evidence about particular water management and policy challenges that must be addressed to increase the adaptation capacity of water supply systems conditioned by water stress or water confronted demands to the worst forecasts of climate change.