The Asociación de Municipios Ribereños of the reservoirs Entrepeñas and Buendía on 12 August 2026 from the Government Delegate in Castilla-La Mancha, José Pablo Sabrido, a public retraction of his recent statements on the Trasvase Tajo-Segura —otherwise, he should resign. According to the association, Sabrido had justified continuing the transfer on the grounds that Murcia, Alicante and other recipient areas still lacked sufficient alternatives such as desalination, adding that “we will not strangle the economy”.
The chair of the Asociación, Borja Castro, rejected this justification. The recipient regions had been urged for years to reduce their dependence on the Trasvase; the alternatives developed in response must not be used as a reason to delay compliance with legal requirements any further. The core of the criticism is that the stipulated ecological flows in the Tajo river basin must be applied consistently and must not be made dependent on how quickly alternative water sources are developed in other regions.
Sabrido’s appeal to solidarity between regions comes amid a long-running dispute over the distribution of scarce water resources. The Trasvase Tajo-Segura has been controversial for decades; the Entrepeñas and Buendía reservoirs are central to the transfer rules. The current management plans have gradually established minimum ecological flows to improve the condition of the river and implement EU legal requirements. Against this backdrop, institutions and interest groups in Castilla-La Mancha have been calling for the rules to be applied more consistently for months.
Local politicians also added to the pressure: according to regional media reports, some mayors called for personnel consequences for the Government Delegate. No immediate response from Sabrido to the call for his resignation had emerged by the time of publication.
Context: – It is a fact that the Asociación de Municipios Ribereños called on 12 August 2026 for a public retraction or the resignation of José Pablo Sabrido. – The exact wording attributed to Sabrido (“we will not strangle the economy” and the condition pending the expansion of desalination) comes from the association and consistent agency reports. – It remains unclear whether the central government or the Delegación del Gobierno in Castilla-La Mancha will clarify or retract the statements. Possible consequences range from a political reprimand to an escalation of the dispute over the application of ecological flows; there are no reliable forecasts.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).