MADRID — In Torre Pacheco, a town with less than 40,000 residents, there are five golf courses, according to data from the Murcia region updated in February. In the region’s capital, Murcia, there are another five. In all, they account for half of the 20 courses across the southeastern region of Spain.
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Murcia has become an oasis for golfers and companies that participate in this business, despite being one of the driest communities in all of Spain, with the lowest volume of water in reservoirs and very low rainfall. So much so that on Aug. 13, an extraordinary drought was declared in the Segura River basin, causing restrictions for agriculture.
Despite the situation, the headquarters of the Spanish Association of Golf Managers (AEGG) is located in the region, and two of the 17 members of the Board of Directors are managers of Murcian clubs.
Illegal wells drying up springs
One of the AEGG’s vice presidents is Ignacio Simancas, who is also golf director for the Alze Group, a real estate company “specialized in the development and management of real estate portfolios for banking entities, investment funds and private investors.” A resort belonging to Alze Group, the Lorca Golf Course, is being investigated by Spain’s Nature Protection Service (Seprona) for alleged theft of 2 million cubic meters of water per year through 15 illegal wells. Seprona said this has caused water shortage in five springs and 65 million euros in environmental damage.
Yet the Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS), which is responsible for managing the Segura basin, has questioned this data. Although the institution acknowledged the existence of illegal wells, CHS President Mario Urrea said technicians could not confirm whether the wells were used to extract water from the aquifer. “We cannot extrapolate what has been consumed. If they are illegal, they did not have meters. We cannot give figures of the damage to the public hydraulic domain,” he told local newspaper La Verdad.
La Marea has tried to contact the Alze Group to get more details on this matter, but received no reply to our successive calls or emails. Likewise, the Spanish Association of Golf Managers has not responded to our questions.
For its part, the Association of Golf Entrepreneurs of the Region of Murcia (AEGRM) said that Lorca Golf Course has been closed for more than a year and claims to be unaware of details of the investigation by Seprona. AEGRM also denied any involvement by Simancas in the alleged water theft. Although Lorca Golf Course continues to appear on the organization’s website, a spokesperson has assured La Marea that it will be removed “after some time.”
Green oasis in a semi-desert
The tourist website for the Region of Murcia encourages people to come to play golf “365 days a year.”
“Enjoy your favorite sport on the Costa Cálida. An ideal environment with more than 300 days of sunshine a year and an average temperature of 19º C (66.2° F), where you can practice your best shots on courses with the most intense green right next to the sea,” the website reads.
According to AEGRM data, this industry “plays a significant role in beating seasonality and promoting the growth of the community,” generating an economic impact of 225 million euros, which represents a contribution of 0.8% to the GDP of the region.
The region’s 20 golf courses would represent one-sixth of region’s water consumption.
The organization states that some 138,000 tourists travel to Murcia “with the main purpose of playing golf” and spend an average of “170 euros per day for foreigners and 96 for Spaniards.” The golf industry generates, directly and indirectly, 4,200 jobs in the Region of Murcia, according to AEGRM data.
Satellite images show that most of the region’s golf courses have become green oases that contrast with the yellow and brown tones of the surrounding territory. The Royal Spanish Golf Federation (RFEG) describes the industry as an “example of sustainability and good use of water” and assures that 70% of the water used is “recycled” and “not suitable for human consumption or agricultural use.”
The Murcian Federation of Ecologists in Action, however, pointed out almost 20 years ago that a great number of golf courses in the region were “in an illegal situation, failing to comply with the Environmental Impact Statement which requires them to obtain irrigation water from treated wastewater, and the administration has done nothing to put an end to this situation so far.”
A heavy cost for a happy few
In its press release, Seprona estimates that the illegal activity of the Lorca Golf Course “would have been operating for approximately 17 years.”
“It took them awhile to realize this, when we have been denouncing situations like this one for two decades,” says Julio Barea, head of Greenpeace Waters. The activist insists that the Lorca case was “very obvious because it has dried up several springs,” but adds that there are many more: “I am not going to say that all golf courses carry out illegal practices, but for 20 years we have been documenting illegal wells or pipes that even took water from the Tajo-Segura transfer.”
Although data differ depending on the source, Greenpeace uses the data recorded by the Geological and Mining Institute to conclude that an 18-hole course that occupies between 99 and 111 acres, needs 650,000 cubic meters of water per year. Using these figures, the region’s 20 golf courses would consume 72 cubic hectometres each year, representing one-sixth of region’s water consumption.
The fact that Spain has 500 golf courses is absurd.
The industry argues that a high percentage of the water resources needed to maintain golf courses come from the regeneration of waste water that is not suitable for human consumption or irrigation; a claim that Julio Barea rejects.
Illicit wells
“First of all, the treatment of waste water is very expensive and retains a fairly strong smell, so it needs to be mixed with clean water. Furthermore, they often say that they are going to irrigate with the waste water from the urban network around the golf courses, but to obtain all the water they need from there they would have to be full all year round, at full capacity, and that is not the case. What they say is not true,” the Greenpeace spokesperson said.
For Barea, golf courses are betting on the construction of wells “some legal and some illegal” to cover the necessary water demand.
“The fact that Spain has 500 golf courses is absurd, given the water consumption it requires and the fact that they are only available to a privileged minority practicing this sport. And it is even more so if one takes into account that the community with the greatest number of courses is Andalusia, one of the regions most affected by recurring droughts,” Barea said.
