JOHN CARLOS I

KING OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand it.

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following Law.

PREAMBLE

The basin of the river Guadalete, integrated in the administrative field of the Hydrographic Confederation of the Guadalquivir, suffers a notorious deficit of water resources in relation to the needs that they must attend; the situation, Although it has deteriorated in recent years due to the serious shortage of precipitation that has been affecting especially the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula, it cannot be considered conjunctural in any way; on the contrary, the studies carried out For the hydrological plan of the basin, the persistence of the deficit is evident water in the medium and long term, despite a comprehensive set of measures planned by the Plan itself for a more efficient use of water resources; from the improvement and modernisation of the existing infrastructure systems to the drastic limitation of new changes in irrigation, as well as the coordinated exploitation of surface and hydrogeological resources and the reuse of waste water.

The most important circumstance of this deficit situation is the fact that the river basin of the river Guadalete supplies the populations of the so-called "Gaditana Zone", a densely populated area where a population resides. This population has been forced to bear numerous restrictions and cuts in the supply of water in a practically continuous manner in recent years.

in order to remedy the situation, it is essential-in addition to continuing the implementation of the measures of greater hydraulic efficiency already indicated-the contribution of flow rates from other basins; Possible alternatives, the most convenient, territorial, technical and economic, is the derivation of part of the surplus flows from the basin of the river Guadiaro to the basin of the river Guadalete.

In the first place, there are surpluses in the Guadiaro basin that exceed the volumes of water to be transferred in several times, taking into account the needs both present and future, so the proposed transfer does not At all, the future development possibilities of the Guadiaro basin will be compromised.

Secondly, the flow of flows can be carried out by means of a transfer tunnel-the so-called Buitreras tunnel-of just over twelve kilometres in length, which has its point of taking into the river Guadiaro in its passage through the municipality of Cortes de la Frontera (Málaga), and its exit point and delivery of flows in the stretch of the river Majoil located in the tail of the Hurones reservoir, in the municipality of Ubrique (Cadiz); the Majoil is a tributary of the Guadalete, with which the volumes of water derived from the Guadiaro will ultimately increase the resources water from the basin of the Guadalete.

On the other hand, the works of the Buitreras transfer tunnel have already been declared of general interest by Royal Decree-Law 3/1992 of 22 May. Likewise, the flow of flows to which reference has been made is provided for in the preliminary draft of the National Hydrological Plan of 1993, currently being processed by the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and the Environment.

However, the urgent situation determined by the water resources deficit of the Guadalete basin also requires authorization for the water transfer itself to which reference has been made; and Since this is a transfer of resources between territorial areas of different river basin management plans, the enactment of a law regulating the conditions and limits of this flow of flows is considered to be necessary.

Finally, it is necessary to carry out a set of works for the regulation of the Hozthroat River, a tributary of the Guadiaro, for the improvement of the systems of supply and irrigation of the basin of the Guadiaro and the Campo de Gibraltar and for the already mentioned more efficient use of water resources of the basin of the Guadalete, which require the declaration of general interest of the corresponding performances.

Article 1.

1. The transfer of water from the Guadiaro river basin to the river basin of the river Guadalete is authorized for the urban and industrial supply of the towns of Algar, Cádiz, Conil, Chiclana de la Frontera, Chipiona, Jedula (Arcos), Jerez de la Border, Medina Sidonia, Paterna de Rivera, Puerto Real, Puerto de Santa Maria, Rota, San Fernando, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Trebujena, as well as all military and strategic facilities located in the area.

2. The transfer of water shall be subject to the following conditions:

(a) No transfer shall be made as long as the river Guadiaro does not circulate in the shunt, a minimum flow rate of five cubic metres per second.

(b) Only the flow rate of the river in excess of the indicated five cubic meters per second shall be transferred.

(c) The flow rates to be transferred may not exceed thirty cubic meters per second.

d) The annual volume transferred will not be greater than one hundred and ten cubic meters.

3. Prior to the determination of the volumes of water to be transferred in each specific period, account shall be taken of the hydraulic needs of the Guadiaro river basin.

4. The Operating Commission as defined in Article 3 shall establish, subject to the conditions of the preceding paragraphs, the volumes to be transferred for each specific period.

5. The flow rates to be transferred must be used for the purposes and territorial scope determined in this Law.

6. The transfer will be carried out by means of a transfer tunnel that has its point of taking in the river Guadiaro in its passage through the municipality of Cortes de la Frontera (Malaga), and its point of unloading in the river Majoil in the tail of the reservoir of the Ferrets, in the municipality of Ubrique (Cádiz).

Article 2.

1. Users shall satisfy a transfer fee intended to compensate for the State's financial contribution and to meet the relevant operating and conservation costs.

The amount for each financial year shall be fixed by adding the following amounts:

(a) The operating and conservation costs of the infrastructure.

b) Management and administration expenses.

(c) 4 per 100 of the updated cost of investments-first establishment and replacement-of any kind required by the execution of the works; the contribution shall be, where appropriate, reduced or increased by the coefficient actual use of the transfer in each year.

2. The distribution of this fee among the users will be carried out according to criteria of rationalization of water use, equity in the sharing of the obligations and self-financing of the service, in the form that the Government determines.

coefficients of mayorination shall be applied to excess consumption per inhabitant determined by the Operating Commission. Municipalities with losses in excess of which the Operating Commission shall determine shall also have a coefficient of capital in the distribution of the licence fee.

3. A percentage of component (c) of the licence fee shall be used to finance the implementation of the Guadiaro Water Infrastructure Plan which, for this purpose and in the context of the river basin management plan, is to be developed by the Southern Hydrographic Confederation, prior approval of the Infrastructure Plan by the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and the Environment.

4. The transfer fee and the percentage referred to in paragraph 3 shall be established and reviewed annually by the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and the Environment. The management of the transfer fee will correspond to the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation.

Article 3.

1. The Southern Hydrographic Confederation will be responsible for the control and exploitation of the shunt work on the Guadiaro River.

2. It will be up to the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation to control and exploit the rest of the transfer infrastructure.

3. Before the entry into service of the transfer, a Commission of Exploitation will be constituted, whose composition will be determined by the Government, which will be included representatives of the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Environment, of the Board of Andalusia and the users of the Guadiaro and Guadalete basins.

It will be the functions of the Commission of Exploitation to adopt decisions to transfer within the provisions of this Law, the follow-up of the Plan of Hydraulic Infrastructures of the Guadiaro, indicated in paragraph 3 of the Article 2, and the follow-up of measures to improve the management of water resources in the basin of the Guadalete.

Additional disposition first.

The following works are declared to be of general interest:

-Hozthroat River Regulation.

-Improvement of the water systems of Guadboot/Charco Redondo, of the basin of Guadiaro and the Campo de Gibraltar.

-Improvement of the hydraulic systems of the Guadalete basin and "Gaditana Zone".

Additional provision second.

Before the end of the second year starting from the start of the transfer works, the municipalities belonging to the so-called "Gaditana Zone" will have to take charge of the supply to the same as the Decree of November 8, 1957, on the financing of works and the exploitation of water supply to the area of gitadana, and Decree 3138/1972 of 2 November, regulating the arrangements for the financing of works for the extension of supply of waters to the area of Cadiz and the exploitation of it, entrusted to the Hydrographic Confederation of the Guadalquivir.

Single end disposition.

By the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and the Environment, the measures that are necessary for the operation of the water diversion system in this Law will be arbitrated.

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this Law.

Madrid, 1 June 1995.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The President of the Government,

FELIPE GONZÁLEZ MARQUEZ