Water Legal Protection in the Canary Islands: A Brief Description

Abstract

Water constitutes one of the most priced and valued natural resources. It is the base of life and also one of the most important areas in the defence of the environment. In a world with more and more people and with a proportionally growing preoccupation about the demand of natural resources, the access to water is being conceived as a fundamental right, related with others in a similar level, like health, quality of life or the previously mentioned environment. In the legal perspective, Water Law is, now, a special discipline of the legal science, which combines private and public aspects. Civil Law, Criminal Law and Administrative Law are present in the regulation of water, conceived as a resource and also as a product. This chapter gives a brief overview about the case of water regulation in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago where that resource is deeply linked to its geographic configuration, its geological nature and, consequently, is reflected in its history and its specific legal management.