The management of land uses as a strategy to improve the production and quality of water resources. Experimental results in the Central Spanish Pyrinees

Abstract

Different land-uses and plant covers yield a wide range of overland flow and sediment concentration. In the 'Aísa Valley" Experimental Station, located in the Central Spanish Pyrenees, information has been obtained on the hydromorphological functioning of both actual and traditional land-uses, confirming that farmland abandonment in steep slopes and the expansion of meadows and shrub cover represent a decrease in bothsediment yield and water availability at a basin scale. With this in mind the authors discuss possible land-use changes that contribute to improve the quality of water resources.