The non-conventional water resources (water reuse (WR) and desalination) are a strategic option to compensate the structural water deficit of the southeast of Spain. In addition to increasing water availability and reducing the pressure on conventional resources, these resources show strategic functions at environmental, social and economic level. However, WR does not experience sufficient acceptance by some water users. Uncertainties regarding the quality of reclaimed water, food safety, price or regulations are factors of rejection or ambiguity. The results of a survey carried out on 114 users belonging to irrigation communities of several river basins in Spain are presented. In general, results show a moderate level of implementation of WR. However, the growth potential of WR is significantly high. This depends on water quality and price, which are the two most important valuation factors of WR. Regulations, food safety or water quality for crops generate uncertainty and concern among the irrigation communities. The effects on the environment or the control of availability are aspects positively valued. Conventional resources (transfers and groundwater) are better valued than non-conventional ones (WR and desalination). This constitutes a factor of vulnerability to consolidate the transformation of the Spanish hydrological model. The information presented can be useful to guide the design of future hydrological policies and reduce the socio-institutional vulnerability related to the integrated management of water resources.

In the context of climate change, a significant increase in the flood risk is expected, which may lead to an intensification of the social impacts of disasters. Social impacts significantly affect the recovery processes of individuals, social groups, and institutions in the medium and long term. Hence, the management of such impacts throughout the disaster life cycle is essential. International institutions and frameworks for disaster risk reduction have claimed the need to generate tools for the systematic assessment and management of social impacts of floods. Recently, an innovative line of research has emerged aimed at adapting social impact assessment (SIA), usually directed at the evaluation of planned interventions (programs, plans and projects), to the field of environmental disasters. In order to contribute to academic efforts in this emerging field, this paper puts forward, through a systematic literature review based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria, an SIA methodological proposal for the identification, assessment and systematic management of the social impacts of flood events. This methodological proposal covers the three phases of the disaster cycle: (1) pre-event (preparedness), allowing the anticipation of potential impacts and supporting the proposal of preventive measures; (2) event (response), facilitating a strategic mobilization of resources and technical support towards previously identified critical disaster areas; and (3) post-event (recovery), evaluating the evolutionary dynamics of impacts, proposing measures to avoid their socio-territorial embedding and accelerating recovery processes. This tool is designed for strategic use by policy makers and managers responsible for flood risk management and regional development.

No abstract

Early warning systems are an essential tool for managing flood emergencies. Alert and warning applications and mobile-phone messaging services have become increasingly widespread among major international emergency agencies as means of communicating risks to the population, and their effectiveness in reducing human and material damages during flood events is significant. Despite their crucial importance, one of the main challenges in the field of emergency communication is the lack of protocols for systematic and standardized production of warning messages. While emergency agencies produce messages on a diversity of topic areas, there are no protocols for structuring their content according to communication functions, exhaustive identification of the relevant areas of action, or classification of content according to different topics. With a view to this opportunity for improvement, the aim of this article is to propose a method for creating a catalog of warning messages enabling their systematic composition and organization. To exemplify the successive stages in the development of such a catalog, we present here the resources and methodological process followed by the authors of this article when commissioned with this task by the emergency services of the Valencian Autonomous Region (south-east Spain) for flood-risk communication. The warning message catalog was pilot tested with experts and user focus groups. Developing warning message catalogs offers a vital resource that can enhance the outreach and operability of warning systems in the current context of increased flood risk due to climate change.

The province of Alicante (Spain), especially the southern part, is one of the regions with the highest seismic risk in the peninsular territory. The interaction between the high seismic danger and the social vulnerability that characterizes the coast of the province of Alicante implies a significant level of risk. Based on this, this paper criticizes the lack of analytical depth in the field of seismology and seismic risk planning to analyze and evaluate the seismic vulnerability that characterizes a population. In particular, a total lack of social factor has been verified in the evaluation of the seismic vulnerability, as well as an absesnce of a procedural perspective in the construction of the risk. However, an excessively technical seismic risk management has been found, exclusively based on the analysis of the architectural resistance of the buildings. This paper argues the need to rethink the concept of seismic risk in depth, in order to understand it as a socially constructed process. In addition, a specific methodological proposal is made to analyze and evaluate the seismic vulnerability of the municipalities of the Alicante coast in an integrated way. This area is exposed to social and economic phenomena that make them especially sensitive to the effects of seismic movements. In short, this paper claims the need to dispute the hegemony of the technocratic paradigm that dominates the analysis and planning of seismic risk in order to move towards a more integrated and multidisciplinary approach that allows to increase the seismic-social resilience of society and territory.

Este trabajo aborda los principales déficits conceptuales y metodológicos de la Evaluación de Impacto Social (EIS) en el ámbito latinoamericano. Este campo de estudio no ha consensuado las bases paradigmáticas que ordenan su diseño y práctica. A fin de asentar su conceptualización, proponemos un análisis de las características ontológicas, epistemológicas y axiológicas de los dos principales paradigmas en EIS. Tales déficits conceptuales han comprometido el desarrollo metodológico de esta especialidad. Realizamos una propuesta metodológica aplicada de EIS que recoge las principales fases, métodos y técnicas. Esta propuesta está orientada a la gestión proactiva de los impactos sociales provocados por proyectos.

EMPORE project, co-funded by LIFE Programme (LIFE15 ENV/ES/000598), aims to demonstrate an innovative, cost-efficient and highly replicable technology for the removal of Emerging Pollutants (EPs) from European Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs). In action, C2, a set of indicators to monitor the socioeconomic impact of EPs removal, was developed. Framed in this action, a robust assessment of the social perception of these contaminants was performed in the SouthEast Spain, where the use of reclaimed water is widespread due to the structural water scarcity. An expert consultation by means of a survey technique was held from November to December of 2018 with a sample size of 114 cases. The survey focused on regulation, risk perception, technologies and socioeconomic impact. A descriptive analysis of 19 variables was carried out. In general, the results suggest that the presence of EPs can be a significant risk and destabilization factor in the reuse of wastewaters. The impact of new regulations concerning EPs awakes uncertainty among water experts. Aspects such as the price of water free of EPs, treatment costs or the potential of different technologies to remove these compounds are sources of ambiguity. Nevertheless, experts believe new regulations on EPs will positively influence public health, social confidence or environmental sustainability, among others. It highlights that experts agree that the future of the reuse of wastewater passes through the combination of technologies. These findings provide water planning policy makers with very useful information in the water resources management of the SouthEast Spain because recent European laws can set new limits of emerging pollutants in waters.

No abstract