Abstract We analyzed the effects of changes in land

cover on the water balance in Spain’s Marina Baixa

County, on the Mediterranean coast. To reveal how

different land management strategies have affected the

area’s environment, four municipalities within the

same catchment were studied: Benidorm, Callosa

d’en Sarria, Beniarda, and Guadalest. In the munici-

palities of Callosa and Benidorm, the proportion of the

area covered by woodland declined by 4.2% and 30.2%,

respectively, and woodland was replaced by agriculture

and urban development. The abandonment of farm-

land produced a 17% increase in the proportion of the

area covered by vegetation in Guadalest and Beniarda,

where frequent forest fires have exacerbated a

decrease in the area of pine woodland. Tourism

development in Benidorm has been accompanied by

an increase in the transportation infrastructure and by

an expansion of areas with an impermeable surface,

with the lowest level of infiltration into the aquifer

system. These changes have generated a net water

deficit in Callosa and Benidorm of more than

6 Mm3/year, creating a high demand for water

imported from other municipalities (Guadalest and

Beniarda) or from outside of the county to maintain

the sustainability of the current water management

strategies. The Marina Baixa case study is representa-

tive of many of the world’s coastal areas that are

undergoing rapid urban development based on an

inappropriate understanding of human progress based

mainly on economic development and thus provides

insights into water management in other areas.

Keywords Water balance � Land use and cover

changes � Management strategies � Water sustainability

� Human impacts

Introduction

Many factors that result from global influences indi-

rectly affect land management at a local level (Raskin

2005). These influences include resource production

and consumption patterns, economic globalization,

cultural differentiation, international governance, geo-

political conflicts, migration of populations, and global

warming. Economic influences, demographic factors,

and government policies act as driving forces that

define the most appropriate land-use strategies for any

region based on the particular interests of those

responsible for the change (Braimoh and Vlek 2005),

without taking into account the opinion or needs of

local populations. However, in practice, nearly all

environmental management is carried out at a local

level, and measures adopted at this level influence the

impacts at broader scales; for example, they play a

significant role in biodiversity conservation and in

establishing effective procedures to achieve sustainable

development (Gasco and others 2005; Maestre 2001).

Environmental management strategies affect land-

scapes because land-use and land-cover change (LUCC)

is one of the most important human modifications of the

Earth’s surface (Lambin and others 1999). The rate of

J. Bellot (&) � A. Bonet � J. Pena � J. R. SanchezDepartment of Ecology, Alicante University,03080 Alicante, SpainE-mail: Juan.bellot@ua.es

Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422

DOI 10.1007/s00267-005-0317-9

123

Human Impacts on Land Cover and Water Balances in a CoastalMediterranean County

Juan Bellot Æ Andreu Bonet Æ Juan Pena ÆJuan Rafael Sanchez

Received: 7 October 2005 / Accepted: 30 July 2006� Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007

land-cover alteration is increasing dramatically world-

wide due to increasing and intensifying human use of the

land (Antrop 2004; Conway and Lathrop 2005; Dale and

others 2000; Richards 1990). The effects of such changes

have attracted the attention of ecologists, particularly

with regard to the impacts of modifications of landscape

structure, environmental quality, and biodiversity (Ales

and others 1992; Holling 1992; Krummel and others

1987; Levin 1992; Romero-Calcerrada and Perry 2004).

These changes have also been analyzed in semi-arid

and dry Mediterranean areas, concentrating especially

on the consequences of farmland abandonment (Bonet

2004; Bonet and others 2001, 2004; Martinez-Fernan-

dez and others 1995) and reforestation carried out at

different scales (Chirino 2003; Chirino and others 2001,

2006; Maestre and Cortina 2004). In these environ-

ments, where water scarcity is the main factor that

limits ecosystem functioning, any change in land use

will modify the relationships between the different

components of the hydrological cycle, thereby limiting

the availability of water as a resource for human

development due to increased runoff and decreased

recharge of aquifers (Bellot and others 1999, 2001;

Cerda 1995; Chirino and others 2003, 2006). Cause–

effect relationships that describe the impact of land-

scape changes on the conservation of water resources

have been determined (Martinez-Fernandez and

others 1995; Omerick 1977).

For decades, agriculture and tourism have been the

main economic sectors in such Mediterranean envi-

ronments, and this is also the case in Marina Baixa

County (Alicante province, southeastern Spain),

where noticeable changes have occurred in both the

landscape and the regional water balance (Bellot and

others 2005; Sanchez and others 2004). However, the

environmental impacts linked to these developments

have rarely been appraised (Oxley and others 2004).

Recently, some authors have focused on the effects of

woodland transformation into other land uses and of

agricultural land-cover changes that have resulted in

an increase in the area covered by an impermeable

surface that affects the catchment’s hydrology (Wiss-

mar and others 2004). Rural areas where woodlands

have been replaced by sealed soil surfaces (e.g., urban

developments, roads, parking lots, rooftops) or by

irrigation agriculture experience changes in the

hydrologic fluxes, with increased surface runoff during

storms, variable water retention times, increased

water consumption, decreased soil water infiltration,

and decreased recharge of aquifers. All of these

changes affect the reversibility of the land-cover

changes and the sustainability of uses of the water

resource.

The work described in the present article aimed to

evaluate human impacts on the water balance of

Marina Baixa County that resulted from changes in

land use and land cover over the last half-century.

The different management strategies implemented in

several municipalities of the county are compared

during three time periods (predevelopment, until

1956; a period of agricultural development, from

1956 to 1978; and a period of tourism expansion, from

1978 to 2000) to evaluate the human impacts on land

cover and water use. Water balance is used as a key

indicator of the study area’s environmental evolution

and is analyzed to assess the sustainability of these

management strategies at local, county, and regional

scales.

Study Area

Marina Baixa County is a 671-km2 watershed located in

the northeastern part of Alicante province (Figure 1).

The county lies between 0�00¢ and 0�24¢ west longitude,

and 38�28¢ and 38�43¢ north latitude. The topography

varies greatly from the coast to the inland mountains

and is characterized by intensive land use, with irrigated

crops such as medlars (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.),

citrus (Citrus spp.), and other fruits, coexisting with

dryland crops such as carob trees (Ceratonia siliqua L.),

olive trees (Olea europaea L.), and almond trees

(Prunus dulcis (Miller) D.A. Webb), and interspersed

with scattered settlements and a rough area of Medi-

terranean woodland that is frequently affected by

wildfire. The climate is characterized by an average

temperature of 18�C and an average annual precipita-

tion of 300 mm along the coast, in contrast with an

average temperature of 9�C and an average rainfall of

between 700 and 900 mm farther inland. The region has

undergone one of the greatest socioeconomic changes

in Spain because it hosts more than 60% of the tourist

activity in Spain’s Valencia region. Marina Baixa

County comprises 18 municipalities, which, for the

study period (1956–2000), present a mosaic of different

trends due to the influence of their proximity to the

Mediterranean coast (services and tourism) and the

availability of water in aquifer reserves (for intensive

irrigation of crops).

In order to illustrate human impacts on the land-

scape, three patterns of land-cover and land-use change

were analyzed in two municipalities with different

populations but similar areas (Benidorm, with 51,873

inhabitants and 3860 ha, and Callosa d’en Sarria, with

7057 inhabitants and 3430 ha) and two municipalities

with comparable surface area but much smaller popu-

Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422 413

123

lations that we have treated as a single municipality in

our analysis (Guadalest and Beniarda, with a total of 341

inhabitants and covering 3159 ha). Benidorm is one of

Europe’s major Mediterranean coastal resorts, attract-

ing more than 3 million tourists each year. Hotels,

residential complexes, housing developments, and scat-

tered guest houses and other accommodations provide

nearly 20 million overnight stays per year during the

summer months, with peak occupancy periods having

more than 300,000 visitors/day (Ivars and Juan 1998).

Guadalest and Beniarda, located inland, have followed

a completely different land-use strategy in which natural

vegetation and croplands have been the main land uses

affected by anthropic factors and natural hazards (e.g.,

wildfires), whose impacts have been magnified by

human interventions (e.g., cropland abandonment).

The Guadalest-Beniarda area welcomes more than 2

million visitors each year, most of whom come from

coastal settlements on day trips to visit the village’s

castle and the surrounding countryside. In contrast, the

agricultural policy adopted by Callosa has been to

develop a highly specialized cropland irrigation system

devoted to the production of citrus and medlar fruits for

export to European markets.

Methods

Land cover and land use in the Marina Baixa county in

1956, 1978, and 2000 were mapped using aerial photo-

graphs and image-processing techniques. Stereo-pairs

of photographs of the land conditions in 1956 were

provided by the Ministry of Defense at a scale of

1:33,000; IRIDA (Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture)

provided the 1978 images at a scale of 1:18,000 and

the Diputacion de Alicante provided the 2000 images

at a scale of 1:25,000. Through the use of advanced

scanning technologies, the aerial images were digitized

and imported into the ArcGIS 8.3 software to obtain

land-cover maps in polygonal vector format. All

images were processed at a scale of 1:10,000 to

facilitate comparisons (Pena and others 2005).

A classification system for the main land-cover and

land-use categories was developed based on physiog-

nomy (determined by means supervised classification

and photointerpretation), using the nomenclature of

the CORINE (Bossard and others 2000) and the LUCC

projects (Lambin and Geist 2001). This produced the 30

level-3 categories shown in Table 1. These categories

were grouped into 12 level-2 categories and 5 level-1

categories to represent the changes in land use and land

cover because this approach was found to be far more

appropriate for analyzing the main changes that had

taken place at local and regional levels (Pena and

others 2005). The resulting 1956, 1978, and 2000 land-

use and land-cover maps were used to study the

spatiotemporal dynamics of land use and land cover.

Population increases (Figure 2), increased tourism,

and the settlement of expatriates during the last half of

the 20th century brought important changes in land use,

particularly in Benidorm and Callosa, where much of

the land was developed. New settlements appeared

Fig. 1 The location of Spain’s Marina BaixaCounty and the municipalities chosen as studysites

414 Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422

123

throughout the region, large areas of woodland were

cleared, and new crops were introduced. The impacts of

these changes on the area’s environmental quality were

evaluated in the present study using a transition matrix

approach in which structural complexity and environ-

mental stability (Heylighen 1999) as well as the

system’s water sustainability were taken into account.

A simple, nonspatially explicit model analogous to the

first-order Markov chain transition method was gener-

ated for each combination of map pairs (1956 and 1978,

1978 and 2000, and 1956 and 2000) based on the

methods of Usher (1992) and Dale and others (2002).

Transitions that decreased water use sustainability

during land-use and land-cover changes (Kates and

Parris 2003; Parris and Kates 2003) and that increased

the degree of irreversibility of those changes were

classified as ‘‘degradative’’ (D). Changes that increased

environmental quality or that were not irreversible

were classified as an ‘‘improvement’’ (I) transition.

Finally, we created the ‘‘stationary’’ (S) category to

cover transitions between land uses within the same

category or a lack of change. Table 2 presents the types

of change between categories for the five level-1

aggregated categories (Table 1), giving a total of

5 · 5 = 25 possible transitions. In the context of this

study, any transformation of woodland or shrubland

into any other use was classified as degradative,

whereas any transformation of urban land into a more

natural environment was classified as an improvement.

Similarly, the change from dryland farming to irrigated

Table 1 Classification of the main land-cover and land-use categories based on the nomenclature of the CORINE (Bossard and others2000) and LUCC (Lambin and Geist 2001) projects, which distinguish 30 categories at level 3, 12 composite categories at level 2, and 5composite categories at level 1

Level 3 Level 2 Level 1

River Body of water UrbanBody of waterDam

Low-density residential Urban low densityMedium-density residential Urban medium densityHigh-density residential Urban high density

Leisure facilityInfrastructure InfrastructuresIndustrial and commercialLandfill and mineral extractionPrimary roadSecondary roadRegional or local roadAccess roadRailwayBare soil or degraded landBeach

Dryland crop Dryland crop Dryland crop

Irrigated crop Irrigated crop Irrigated crop

Shade crop Shade crop

Pine forest Pine forest WoodlandShrubland with dispersed pinesPine forest plantation

Abandoned field regenerating as pine forest Recovered old fieldsAbandoned field regenerating as shrubland with dispersed pines

Shrubland Shrubland ShrublandScrubland ScrublandRavine vegetation

Abandoned field regenerating as scrubland Recovered old fieldsAbandoned field regenerating as shrubland

Note: The criterion for defining land cover and land use was physiognomy, and the results were obtained by means of photo-interpretation

Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422 415

123

crops was also considered degradative due to the

resulting increase in water consumption and evapora-

tion, whereas a change from irrigation to dryland

farming was considered to be an amelioration.

To calculate the water balances for each type of

land use and cover, a Digital Elevation Model of

Marina Baixa County and precipitation data were

used to estimate the quantity of water flowing into the

Marina Baixa catchment during the study years (1956,

1978, and 2000). Actual evapotranspiration was cal-

culated using different methods for each type of land

use and averaged weighting each surface. In natural

cover types, evapotranspiration was estimated using

the ‘‘Ventos’’ hydrologic model (Bellot and others

2001; Chirino 2003). In dryland agriculture and

irrigated cropland, evapotranspiration was estimated

using the water consumption data (Lopez Bellido

1998) and the water use efficiency for each crop

reported by Allen and others (1998) as input data for

the PARloc software (IVIA 2006). The extent and

buildings density of urban areas and of scattered

settlements were calculated using the land-use data in

ArcGIS, supplemented by field data, and were

divided into three categories (low, middle, and high)

according to the number of buildings per hectare.

Field surveys using the rapid appraisal technique

(Kachondham 1992) and data provided by local water

supply companies and agencies were used to estimate

urban water consumption and to evaluate the impact

of these uses on the water cycle. For gardens and

urban parks, the method of Domene and Saurı (2003)

was applied to estimate water consumption and

evapotranspiration.

Results

Land-Cover Properties

The patterns of change differed greatly among the

municipalities (Table 3), although the predevelop-

ment situations were similar (56–59% natural vegeta-

tion, 39–42% agriculture, and 0.1–2% urban). The

proportion of the area covered by natural vegetation,

which comprises different types of woodland cover

(pine forest, dense or open shrubland, and aban-

doned cropland) decreased by 4.2% during the study

period (1956–2000) in Callosa and by 3.2% in

Fig. 2 Population changes during the 20thcentury in the municipalities in the study area.Data were provided by Spain’s NationalInstitute for Statistics (Instituto Nacional deEstadıstica)

Table 2 Matrix of the transitions between the five level-1 categories of land use (Table 1) and the corresponding consequences forsustainability of water use

To \ From Urban Dryland crops Irrigated crops Shrubland Woodland

Urban Stationary Improvement Degradative Improvement ImprovementDryland crops Degradative Stationary Degradative Improvement ImprovementIrrigated crops Improvement Improvement Stationary Improvement ImprovementShrubland Degradative Degradative Degradative Stationary ImprovementWoodland Degradative Degradative Degradative Degradative Stationary

Stationary: unchanged or changes within the same category; improvement: land-use conversion to natural or artificial uses that result inless water consumption; degradative: more irreversible conversion to artificial uses that increase water consumption

416 Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422

123

Benidorm, with the proportion of the area devoted to

agriculture increasing by 1% in Callosa and the

proportion of urban area increasing by 33.6% in

Benidorm. However, in the Guadalest–Beniarda area,

the proportion of the area covered by natural

vegetation increased by 16.5%, with the exception

of pine forest, which decreased from 1978 to 2000 as

a result of forest fires. As a result, the dominant

natural vegetation in Guadalest–Beniarda became

shrubland and scrubland (35.1% in total).

Table 3 Main land uses in 1956, 1978, and 2000 for the municipalities in the present study

1956 1978 2000

Land use Area (ha) % Area (ha) % Area (ha) %

BenidormUrban (total) 75.77 1.96 605.70 15.67 1374.41 35.57

Infrastructure 61.80 1.60 317.05 8.20 657.44 17.01Urban low density 2.15 0.06 71.68 1.85 355.16 9.19Urban medium density 11.82 0.31 62.25 1.61 68.90 1.78Urban high density 0.00 0.00 154.73 4.00 292.92 7.58

Agriculture (total) 1518.49 39.29 970.02 25.10 350.45 9.07Dryland crop 951.88 24.63 273.42 7.08 51.71 1.34Irrigated crop 566.61 14.66 696.60 18.03 293.96 7.61Shade crop 0.99 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.79 0.12

Forest (total) 2262.12 58.54 2288.26 59.21 2136.82 55.29Pine forest 232.74 6.02 600.18 15.53 617.31 15.97Shrubland 842.30 21.80 215.91 5.59 155.07 4.01Scrubland 299.69 7.76 457.46 11.84 383.78 9.93Recovered old field 887.38 22.96 1014.70 26.26 980.66 25.38

Water (total) 8.14 0.21 0.54 0.01 2.83 0.07Grand total 3865.51 100.00 3864.51 100.00 3864.51 100.00CallosaUrban (total) 14.00 0.41 72.16 2.11 147.33 4.30

Infrastructure 0.52 0.02 30.63 0.89 82.99 2.42Urban low density 0.00 0.00 7.20 0.21 26.40 0.77Urban medium density 13.48 0.39 34.33 1.00 37.94 1.11Urban high density 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Agriculture (total) 1423.29 41.52 1586.60 46.29 1450.63 42.32Dryland crop 882.24 25.74 582.65 17.00 69.03 2.01Irrigated crop 541.05 15.78 1003.95 29.29 1214.61 35.43Shade crop 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 166.98 4.87

Forest (total) 1929.56 56.29 1729.46 50.45 1785.53 52.09Pine forest 297.01 8.66 449.90 13.12 480.52 14.02Shrubland 692.32 20.20 466.05 13.60 518.46 15.12Scrubland 400.16 11.67 432.53 12.62 360.53 10.52Recovered old field 540.07 15.76 380.98 11.11 426.02 12.43

Water (total) 61.04 1.78 39.68 1.16 44.41 1.30Grand total 3427.89 100 3427.90 100 3427.90 100Guadalest + BeniardaUrban (total) 2.70 0.09 20.12 0.64 26.37 0.83

Infrastructure 0.00 0.00 14.04 0.44 16.92 0.54Urban low density 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.50 0.05Urban medium density 2.70 0.09 6.08 0.19 7.95 0.25Urban high density 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Agriculture (total) 1345.96 42.60 1077.84 34.12 780.10 24.69Dryland crop 1277.75 40.44 935.36 29.61 666.81 21.11Irrigated crop 68.21 2.16 142.48 4.51 112.23 3.55Shade crop 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.06 0.03

Forest (total) 1794.20 56.79 2024.68 64.09 2316.17 73.13Pine forest 426.27 13.49 775.32 24.54 757.40 23.97Shrubland 840.54 26.61 371.74 11.77 339.74 10.75Scrubland 308.34 9.76 685.04 21.68 769.59 24.36Recovered old field 219.05 6.93 192.58 6.10 449.43 14.23

Water (total) 16.42 0.52 36.63 1.10 36.63 1.16Grand total 3159.27 100 3159.27 100 3159.27 100

Changes are presented in terms of surface area (ha) and the proportion of the total area (%)

Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422 417

123

Since 1978, agriculture has declined steadily in

Guadalest-Beniarda (by 10%) and Benidorm (16%),

in contrast with the 177-ha (4.9%) increase in irrigation

farming, especially under shade and using drip irriga-

tion technology, in Callosa. Dryland farming decreased

considerably (by 23%) in Callosa, to a level well below

that in Guadalest-Beniarda and comparable to that in

Benidorm (Table 3).

There has been almost no change in the proportion

of urban area in Guadalest-Beniarda since 1956,

whereas the urban area in Callosa has increased to 10

times its 1956 value; in Benidorm, the urban area

increased to 18 times its 1956 value (Table 3).

Although this category occupies less land area in total

than natural vegetation and agriculture, this change has

important consequences for the conservation of water

resources because urban areas have impermeable

surfaces and because the change has a high degree of

irreversibility. The majority of the urban development

took place between 1978 and 2000 as a result of the

emergence of industrial, commercial, and (above all)

recreational and leisure areas. Access to these devel-

oped areas has been improved by increases in the

county road network, which has expanded to 5 and 11

times the 1956 values in 1978 and 2000, respectively

(data not shown). In 2000, road networks in Benidorm

occupied more than 120 ha of land (Pena and others

2005).

Land-Cover Transitions

The analysis of land-cover transitions included all three

municipal areas shown in Table 3. The changes

observed from 1956 to 2000 (Figure 3) confirm that

most of the Guadalest-Beniarda landscape remained

stable (52% of the transitions) and had the lowest level

Fig. 3 Distribution of land-use transitions inthe municipalities in the study from 1956 to1978, from 1978 to 2000, and for the studyperiod as a whole (1956–2000)

418 Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422

123

of degradative transitions (13%). Callosa and Beni-

dorm had roughly the same level of degradative change

(35 and 38%, respectively), but Callosa also showed a

high degree of stability (43%). Benidorm went through

the largest number of transitions that were character-

ized by a high level of degradative change (38%).

Abandonment of farming appears to have contributed

most strongly to the improved transitions (31%) that

have taken place in Benidorm.

Impact of Land-Cover Changes on Water Use

Equipment and infrastructure for transporting water

have become a prominent feature of the study area,

adversely affecting its natural appearance. In 1978, the

dam constructed to regulate Guadalest’s river flow

came into service, and although the same area of

bodies of water was maintained, downstream of the

dam the river and its associated vegetation has disap-

peared. However, the sporadic presence of water has

permitted the development of ravine (rambla) vegeta-

tion, leading to the replacement of a river system with

a high ecological value by another (rambla) and

increasing the connectivity between land on opposite

sides of the dry riverbed.

The main changes in the water-use system can be

attributed to the increase in the area of irrigated

cropland (e.g., irrigation reservoirs) and the area of

urban development for recreational use (swimming

pools, golf courses, water parks, etc.). These changes

demand a great amount of water from the region’s

aquifers or the availability of a water supply from

outside of the region. We have estimated the average

water flows (m3/ha/ year) for each land use (Figure 4)

based on an average annual precipitation of 400 mm

(4000 m3/ha) for the whole county. In the natural

vegetation and dryland crop land uses, evapotranspi-

ration represents the main output (87% and 79% of

inputs, respectively), with infiltration representing the

secondary output (10% and 20%, respectively). In areas

under irrigation, the additional input of water greatly

modifies the water flows, with infiltration rates increas-

ing to 34% of the inputs and evapotranspiration

increasing to 63% of the total water input (rainfall

and irrigation combined). In urban areas, evapotrans-

piration decreased to 3% of inputs (rainfall and

supplied water), but urban collectors (‘‘treatment

plants’’ in Figure 4) receive 70% of the water, with

the remainder (27%) being accounted for by infiltra-

tion or lost by the system.

We calculated the annual water balance in millions

of cubic meters (Mm3) for the hydrological areas

occupied by the four municipalities (Table 4). The

changes in land use between 1956 and 2000 increased

water consumption to levels exceeding the available

water resource in Callosa and Benidorm. In both cases,

agricultural and urban uses produced the same effect:

a net negative balance of more than 3.2 Mm3/year.

However, if water collection by the municipalities of

Guadalest and Beniarda is included, the overall

balance remains near equilibrium in 2000 (Table 4).

Considering the four municipalities as a single system,

the balance between collection and use of water

suggests that the relative sizes of the regions that

contribute and consume water affects the overall water

balance and thus the system’s sustainability, with some

areas acting as sources and others as sinks. By

analyzing the contribution of water flows and reserves

(aquifers) in these municipalities (Table 4), we ob-

served that only the Guadalest-Beniarda community is

still a source of water supply, with positive contribu-

tions to the net balance in all three periods under

consideration.

The role of Callosa in the county’s water balance has

changed over time, with a positive contribution during

the predevelopment period changing to a strong

Fig. 4 Average water flow (m3/ha/year) foreach of the main land uses in Marina Baixa.For each land use, the inputs are precipitation(Prec.), irrigation, and urban supply; theoutputs are evapotranspiration (Eta),infiltration into the aquifer (Infil.), and surfacerunoff (Runoff). Inputs and outputs arerepresented by downward-pointing andupward-pointing arrows, respectively.Percentages represent the proportion of totalinputs (precipitation, irrigation, and urbansupply volumes)

Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422 419

123

negative contribution from 1978 to the present as a

result of intensive development of irrigated agriculture.

Benidorm has acted as a water sink since 1978 due to

the strategies implemented at that time for the devel-

opment of tourism. This net negative balance has

occurred despite the implementation of new sewage

treatment measures in 2000 that now return 38% of the

input water to the Benidorm aquifer. In environmental

management terms, Benidorm has lost nearly all of its

former agricultural character (only 9% of the area is

now agricultural; Table 3), and natural vegetation has

also declined slightly; as a result, 35% of its area is now

occupied by developed land, including infrastructure

for water transportation. Part of the water that is used

is now treated and restored to a polluted and saline

aquifer, whose water is unsuitable for human

consumption or agricultural uses (Figure 4).

Discussion

A global view of the situation in 1956 reflects a more

rational use of the land and a greater sustainability of

water consumption. In that year, Benidorm, Callosa,

and Guadalest–Beniarda had a similar distribution of

land uses, but in recent decades, land use has irrevers-

ibly transformed much of the traditional structure of

the rural landscape, fragmenting the agricultural land-

scape and causing overexploitation of the hydrological

resources. The fact that there was less irrigated

agriculture in Callosa and less tourism in Benidorm

during the predevelopment period resulted in a near-

equilibrium water balance or a net positive balance.

However, when these areas began to flourish econom-

ically and demographically (1978 and 2000), water

consumption increased greatly as a result of taking

advantage of new water sources and increasing the

complexity of the systems used for water exploitation

(wells, transfers from other regions, dams). This

increase has been mitigated in part by the implemen-

tation of new technologies aimed at reducing water

consumption, such as the implementation of drip

irrigation, water treatment plants, and the reuse of

treated sewage water.

The land-use change in favor of housing develop-

ments and irrigated croplands illustrates the impact of

local decisions on land use and hydrology. The case of

Marina Baixa County also illustrates how topograph-

ical conditions and distance from the coast significantly

affected land-use and land-cover types and therefore

affected the landscape configuration, as was the case in

Wear and Bolstad’s (1998) study, which described a

strategy limiting the use of intensive agriculture to

areas of no tourism interest. Road construction and

improvement have also affected the subsequent evo-

lution of rural landscapes in our study area, which

shifted from a matrix of natural vegetation in 1956 to a

primarily anthropogenic matrix in 2000. The environ-

mental impacts of these changes must be evaluated

further, paying special attention to their degradative

characteristics and the degree of irreversibility of the

changes, because even reversible changes will persist

for a long time, simultaneously affecting the water

cycle and the functioning of the region’s ecosystems.

Additional research is needed to evaluate the eco-

logical implications of continuous construction of

housing developments, overexploitation of water

resources, and other impacts attributable to human

actions. These alterations influence local environments

by destroying habitats and modifying water fluxes

(Alberti 1999), and it will be necessary to further

evaluate these effects from an environmental point of

view—that is, from the perspective of biodiversity,

functioning of ecosystems, risk assessment, and so on

(Dale and others 1998a). Currently, other impacts

(both negative and positive) have been observed as a

result of the increased volumes of water flowing over

the surface in 2000, which contrasts with the predevel-

opment period (1956), when this volume of water

normally remained underground in the aquifers. The

Table 4 Annual water flows (in Mm3/year) : inputs (rainfall), outputs (evapotranspiration), consumption (irrigation and urban), andtotal balances at each local level

1956 1978 2000

G + B C B G + B C B G + B C B

Rainfall 25.68 22.71 13.33 25.68 22.71 13.33 25.68 22.71 13.33Evapotranspiration 15.29 14.10 7.89 16.01 13.4 7.51 16.53 13.50 7.09Irrigation 0.41 4.57 4.24 1.29 8.51 5.22 0.98 11.71 2.24Urban 0.02 0.16 0.14 0.09 0.47 3.88 0.08 0.56 7.25Balance 9.96 3.88 1.06 8.30 0.33 –3.28 8.09 –3.04 –3.25

Guadalest and Beniarda = G + B; Callosa = C; Benidorm = B.The same average rainfall was used for each municipality in each year to evaluate the effect of land-use changes without the influenceof changes in rainfall and interannual variability

420 Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422

123

expansion of housing developments and the presence of

scattered settlements throughout the landscape could

be considered as a totally anthropogenic disturbance in

the sense defined by Dale and others (1998b), and this

might eventually result in an urban region with no

positive environmental function (Antrop 2004).

At present, the water balance in our study area is

roughly in equilibrium at the county scale. The

municipalities of Guadalest and Beniarda, which have

implemented a different management strategy based

on retaining more of the natural and agricultural

environments, can supply Benidorm and Callosa with

the extra water they have collected from rainfall in

order to compensate for the water deficit in these two

larger villages. However, the current trends in land use

suggest that an increased water deficit will occur at the

county level in the future. Published strategic plans for

development of the region suggest that the severity of

human impacts will increase on this area (increased

population, housing development, and development of

recreational sites such as water parks and golf courses),

and these increased impacts can be compensated for

only by new water transfers from outside of the region

(Gasco and others 2005). This management policy will,

in turn, affect the sustainability of other remote areas,

which will similarly need to reassess their development

strategies. Alternatively, water conservation measures

and inputs of marine water using desalination technol-

ogies could be developed.

To minimize the adverse effects of development,

planners and decision-makers must balance the current

availability of natural resources with proposed new

changes in land use before permitting further landscape

changes. As Cumming and others (2005) have pro-

posed, it is necessary to consider the present ecological

limitations before defining additional scenarios for

sustainable development in which land uses will be in

equilibrium with the available resources. Conversely, to

create a ‘‘huge urban development’’ would require an

input of resources from other regions that would

remain undeveloped, thereby intensifying the existing

regional imbalance in land use and economic develop-

ment. Planning and designing landscapes for the future

requires a profound understanding of the highly

dynamic, complex, and multifunctional urbanized land-

scape (Antrop 2004) and of ecologically appropriate

future development. An environmentally correct man-

agement policy must recognize that local and regional

sustainability depends on ecological issues that arise at

the ecosystem level. Unfortunately, reality provides us

with many examples where the sustainability of a local

area is maintained only by requiring the contribution of

resources from other regional, national, or interna-

tional areas. Our case study clearly illustrates how an

inappropriately planned coastal urban development

(in the municipality of Benidorm) has led to occupation

of more than one-third of its area by houses, roads, and

other infrastructure and services, increasing water

consumption to unsustainable levels.

Acknowledgments This work has been financed by theEuropean AQUADAPT (EVK1-CT-2001-00104) project and ispart of the CICYT project CGL2004-03627 and RESELProgramme from Ministerio Medio Ambiente (MMA), Spain.

References

Alberti M. 1999. Modeling the urban ecosystem: A conceptualframework. Environ Plan B: Plan Des 26:605–630

Ales R. F., A. Martin, F. Ortega, E. E. Ales. 1992. Recentchanges in landscape structure and function in a Mediter-ranean region of southwest Spain. Landscape Ecol 7:3–18

Allen R. G., L. S. Pereira, D. Raes, D. Smith. 1998. Cropevapotranspiration. Guidelines for computing crop waterrequirements. Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56. FAO, Rome

Antrop M. 2004. Landscape change and the urbanization processin Europe. Landscape Urban Plan 67:9–26

Bellot J., A. Bonet, J. R. Sanchez, E. Chirino. 2001. Likely effectsof land use changes on the runoff and aquifer recharge in asemi-arid landscape using a hydrological model. LandscapeUrban Plan 778:1–13

Bellot J., J. R. Sanchez, E. Chirino, N. Hernandez, F. Abdelli,J. M. Martinez. 1999. Effect of different vegetation typecover effects on the soil water balance in a semi-arid areas ofsouth eastern Spain. Phys Chem Earth (B) 24:353–357

Bellot J., J. R. Sanchez, E. Chirino, J. C. Tejada, J. Monsalve,J. Pena, A. Bonet, D. Eisenhuth. 2005. Elaboration of ahydrologic model for balances in semi-arid areas Alicante).Deliverable 8 (III). AQUADAPT Project Report, Alicante,Spain

Bonet A. 1997. Efectos del abandono de los cultivos sobre lavegetacion en la cuenca del Alt Llobregat (Barcelona).Relacion con factores ambientales y de usos del suelo.Ecologıa 11:91–104

Bonet A. 2004. Secondary succession on semi-arid Mediterraneanold-fields in south-eastern Spain: Insights for conservationand restoration of degraded lands. J Arid Environ 56:213–233

Bonet A., J. Bellot, J. Pena. 2004. Landscape dynamics ina semiarid Mediterranean catchment (SE Spain). In SMazzoleni (ed), Recent dynamics of Mediterranean vege-tation and landscape. Wiley, Chichester, pp 41–50

Bonet A., J. Pena, J. Bellot, M. Cremades, J. R. Sanchez. 2001.Changing vegetation and landscape patterns in semi-aridSpain. In Y. Villacampa, C. A. Brebbia, J. L. Uso (eds),Ecosystems and sustainable development III. Wessex Insti-tute of Technology, UK, pp 377–386

Bossard M., J. Feranec, J. Otahel. 2000. Corine land covertechnical guide. Addendum 2000. Technical Report 40.European Commission/European Environment Agency,Copenhagen. Available at http://reports.eea.eu.int/tech40-add/en

Braimoh A. K., P. L. Vlek. 2005. Land-cover change trajectoriesin Northern Ghana. Environ Manage 36:356–373

Cerda A. 1995. Factores y variaciones espacio-temporales de lainfiltracion en los ecosistemas mediterraneos. Monografıascientıficas. Geoforma ediciones, Logrono, Spain

Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422 421

123

Chirino E. 2003. Influencia de las precipitaciones y de la cubiertavegetal en el balance hıdrico superficial y en la recarga deacuıferos en clima semiarido. PhD thesis, Universidad deAlicante, Alicante, Spain

Chirino E., J. Bellot, A. Bonet, J. M. Andreu. 2003. Efecto dediferentes tipos de cubierta vegetal en el control de laerosion en clima semiarido. SE- Espana. In R. Bienes,M. J. Marques (eds), Control de la erosion and degradaciondel Suelo. Forum Calidad, Madrid pp 183–187

Chirino E., A. Bonet, J. Bellot, J. R. Sanchez. 2006. Effects of30-year-old Aleppo pine plantations on runoff, soil erosion,and plant diversity in a semi-arid landscape in south easternSpain. Catena 65:19–29

Chirino E., J. R. Sanchez, A. Bonet, J. Bellot. 2001. Effect ofafforestation and vegetation dynamics on soil erosion in a semi-arid environment (SE Spain). In Y. Villacampa, C. A. Brebbia,J. L. Uso (eds), Ecosystems and sustainable development III,Wessex Institute of Technology, UK, pp 239–248

Conway T. M., R. G. Lathrop Jr. 2005. Modelling the ecologicalconsequences of land-use policies in an urbanizing region.Environ Manage 35:278–291

Cumming G. S., J. Alcamo, O. Sala, R. Swart, E. M. Bennett,M. Zurek. 2005. Are existing global scenarios consistentwith ecological feedbacks? Ecosystems 8:143–152

Dale V. H., S. Brown, R. A. Haeuber, N. T. Hobbs, N. Huntly,R. J. Naiman, W. E. Riebsame, M. G. Turner, T. J. Valone.2000. Ecological principles and guidelines for managing theuse of land. Ecol Applic 10(3):639–670

Dale M., P. Dale, T. Edgoose. 2002. Using Markov models toincorporate serial dependence in studies of vegetationchange. Acta Oecol 23:261–269

Dale V. H., A. W. King, L. K. Mann, R. A. Washington-AllenMcCord. 1998a. Assessing land-use impacts on naturalresources. Environ Manage 22:203–211

Dale V. H., A. E. Lugo, J. A. MacMahon, S. T. A. Pickett. 1998b.Ecosystem management in the context of large, infrequentdisturbances. Ecosystems 1:546–557

Domene E., D. Sauri. 2003. Modelos urbanos y consumo deagua. El riego de los jardines privados en la regionmetropolitana de Barcelona. Invest Geogr 32:5–17

Gasco G., D. A. Hermosilla, A. Gasco, J. M. Naredo. 2005.Applications of a physical input-output table to evaluatethe development and sustainability of continental waterresources in Spain. Environ Manage 36:59–72

Heylighen F. 1999. The growth of structural and functionalcomplexity during evolution. In F. Heylighen, J. Bollen, A.Riegler. (eds), The evolution of complexity, Kluwer Aca-demic, Dordrecht, pp 17–44

Holling C. S. 1992. Cross-scale morphology, geometry, anddynamics of ecosystems. Ecol Monogr 62:447–502

Ivars J. A., F. Juan. 1998. La descentralizacion de la actividadturıstica en Benidorm. Rev Valenciana Estudis Autonomics25:245–258

IVIA. 2006. PARloc. Programa de asesoramiento en riegolocalizado. Conselleria de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimenta-cion. Servicio Tecnologıa del Riego. Available at http://estaciones.ivia.es/estacion/ (accessed June 23, 2006)

Kachondham Y. 1992. Rapid rural appraisal and rapid assess-ment procedures: A comparison. In N. S. Scrimshaw, G. R.Gleason (eds), Rapid assessment procedures: Qualitativemethodologies for planning and evaluation of health relatedprograms. International Nutrition Foundation for Develop-ing Countries (INFDC), Boston

Kates R. W., T. M. Parris. 2003. Long-term trends and asustainability transition. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA100(14):8062–8067

Krummel J. R., R. H. Gardner, G. Sugihara, R. V. O’Neill, P. R.Coleman. 1987. Landscape patterns in a disturbed environ-ment. Oikos 48:321–324

Lambin E. F., X. Baulies, N. Bockstael, G. Fisher, T. Krug, R.Leemans, E. F. Moran, R. Rindfuss, Y. Sato, D. Skole, B. L.Turner, C. Vogel. 1999. Land-use and land-cover change:Implementation strategy, IGBP Secretariat, Stockholm

Lambin E. F., H. J. Geist. 2001. Global land-use and coverchange: What have we learned so far?. Global ChangeNewslett 46:27–30

Levin S. A. 1992. The problem of pattern and scale in ecology.Ecology 73:1943–1967

Lopez Bellido L. 1998. El uso del agua en los sistemas agrıcolasmediterraneos. In R. M. Jimenez Dıaz, J. Lamo de Espinosa.(eds), Agricultura sostenible, Agrofuturo-Life. EdicionesMundi-Prensa, Madrid, pp 227–248

Maestre F. T. 2001. Industrial development versus environmentalconservation at local scale: A case study from southeasternSpain. Environ Manage 28:149–163

Maestre F. T., J. Cortina. 2004. Are Pinus halepensis plantationsuseful as a restoration tool in degraded semiarid Mediter-ranean areas? Forest Ecol Manage 198:303–317

Martınez-Fernandez, J., F. Lopez-Bermudez, J. Martınez-Fern-andez, A. Romero-Dıaz. 1995. Land use and soil-vegetationrelationships in a Mediterranean ecosystem: El Ardal,Murcia, Spain. Catena 25:153–167

Omerick J. M. 1977. Nonpoint source-stream nutrient levelrelationships: A nationwide study. EPA-600/3-77-105. USEnvironmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR

Oxley T., N. Winder, B. S. McIntosh, M. Mulligan, G. Engelen.2004. Integrated modelling & decision support tools: AMediterranean example. Environ Model Software19(11):999–1010

Parris T. M., R. W. Kates. 2003. Characterizing and measuringsustainable development. Annu Rev Environ Resources28:559–586

Pena J., R. M. Martinez, A. Bonet, J. Bellot, A. Escarre. 2005.Cartografıa de las coberturas y usos del suelo de la MarinaBaixa (Alicante) para 1956, 1978 y 2000. Invest Geogr 37:5–17

Raskin P. D. 2005. Global scenarios: Background review forthe millennium ecosystem assessment. Ecosystems 8:133–142

Richards J. F. 1990. Land transformations. In B. L. Turner II etal. (eds), The Earth as transformed by human action, globaland regional changes in the biosphere over the past 300years. Cambridge University Press, London

Romero-Calcerrada, R., G. L. W. Perry. 2004. The role of landabandonment in landscape dynamics in the SPA Encinaresdel rıo Alberche and Cofio, Central Spain, 1984–1999.Landscape Urban Plan 66:217–232

Sanchez J. R., D. Eisenhuth, J. Bellot, A. Bonet, A. Aledo, J. Pena,J. Monsalve, J. C. Tejada. 2004. Los vınculos existentes entrelos recursos hıdricos, la calidad ecologica y el desarrollosostenible de una comunidad humana en la Marina Baixa: unaperspectiva coevolutiva. In IV Congreso Iberico sobreGestion y Planificacion del Agua. Tortosa, Spain

Usher M. B. 1992. Statistical models of succession. In D.C.Glenn-Lewin, R. K. Peet, T. T. Veblen (eds), Plant succes-sion: Theory and prediction. Chapman & Hall, London

Wear D. N., P. Bolstad. 1998. Land-use in Southern Appalachianlandscapes: Spatial analysis and forecast evaluation. Eco-systems 1:575–594

Wissmar R. C., R. K. Timm, M. G. Logsdon. 2004. Effects ofchanging forest and impervious land covers on dischargecharacteristics of watersheds. Environ Manage 34:91–98

422 Environ Manage (2007) 39:412–422

123