SHAPING A NEW LUSO SPANISH CONVENTION

In 1998, Portugal and Spain signed, at Albufeira, a Convention to regulate access to their common rivers. Most of them have their upstream basins in Spain and flow into Portugal. A growing water demand in Spain had much reduced their flows into Portugal. The Portuguese priority in the Convention was to assure stream flows for the Alqueva dam, located on the Guadiana River. This paper discusses the functioning of the Albufeira Convention and makes proposals for its revision. The bilateral Commission has hardly operated. In 2005, the exceptional dry year regime has been activated by Spain only on the Duero/Douro River. The Water Framework Directive, the Berlin Rules, Water Markets and the Catalan Voting Rules might help to a revised Convention aiming at better protecting the common rivers