El origen de la organización administrativa del agua y de los estudios hidrológicos en España. El caso de la cuenca del Guadalquivir.

Abstract

The origin of administrative organization of water resources and of hydrological studies in Spain. The case of the Guadalquivir river basin. It has been the general belief that modern administrative organization of water usage in Spain dates to the Royal Decree emitted on May 11, 1900 which created the Hydraulic Works Divisions. The true origin, however, of administrative organization of water based on catchment areas is prior to this date. In addition, historical studies of water-related interventions in Spain have focused mainly on hydraulic works -and on the evolution of water rights. Lesser attention has been paid- with sorne noteworthy exceptions -to the broadening of hydrological knowledge.

The aims pursued in the following pages are twofold. The first is to highlight the significant efforts carried out during the latter half of the 19th century in the organizational and scientific aspects of water management. The second aim is that of analysing the true origins of the catchment basin as the territorial basis for the administration ofhydraulic resources.