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 Spain’s Environment  There are three major environmental problems that are the current object of concern in Spain. One is the unfortunate pollution of the Mediterranean Sea. The second is the water shortage. Lastly, there is the subject of air pollution.  The Mediterranean is the dirtiest sea on the planet. There are more than 400 tons of petrochemicals dumped into it yearly by Spain. Every cubic meter of water has more than 33 different kinds of pollutants in it and every liter has 10 grams of petrochemicals. Raw sewage and wastes are drained into the sea by offshore oil and gas productions. To help regulate these wastes there are new regulations and procedures being created and set into motion.  Droughts are common enough in Spain but in Murcia there is a major water shortage. Recently there has been a boom in the building of resorts and there is completion between the farmers and developers. The farmers have also switched to crops that need more water depleting the already small water supply. People are beginning to get their water from the black market which gets its water from illegal wells. Many farmers are struggling to pay the high price and in turn, their crops are failing. There is not much to do about water shortage but ration it until the rain comes or another water transportation course can be found, as the water in the North is slowly drying up as well.  The air pollution is a great problem in Spain. Most of it is produced by the petrochemical plants. For example, Galicia has the most sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and suspended particles at 450,000 tons. In 1998, 9,396 samples found the air to contain concentrations levels over 110 micrograms per cubic meter for eight hours. This was a 50% increase from 1997. To constantly regulate the air pollution levels a sampling station has been established to inform the European Monitoring Evaluation Program of the levels of pollutants.  With all this pollution one would think the ecological footprint of Spain to be very large but in comparison to other countries it is ranked 21st out of 141 as 5.5. The United States is ranked number 2 with 12.22. The country above that is the [|United Arab Emirates] at 15.99. One could only imagine the amount of resources American’s must use to be that much higher than Spain and more resources used can only mean more pollution. Though the pollution rate is high in Spain, there are many people working hard to help the environment.

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 * The Environment of Spain
 * Major Environmental Problems **

The Mediterranean is the dirtiest sea on the planet. There are more than 400 tons of petrochemicals dumped into it yearly by Spain. Every cubic meter of water has more than 33 different kinds of pollutants in it and every liter has 10 grams of petrochemicals. Raw sewage and wastes are drained into the sea by offshore oil and gas productions. To help regulate these wastes there are new regulations and procedures being created and set into motion.  Droughts are common enough in Spain but in Murcia there is a major water shortage. Recently there has been a boom in the building of resorts and there is completion between the farmers and developers. The farmers have also switched to crops that need more water depleting the already small water supply. People are beginning to get their water from the black market which gets its water from illegal wells. Many farmers are struggling to pay the high price and in turn, their crops are failing. There is not much to do about water shortage but ration it until the rain comes or another water transportation course can be found, as the water in the North is slowly drying up as well.   <span style="font-family: "Lucida Console"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The air pollution is a great problem in Spain. Most of it is produced by the petrochemical plants. For example, Galicia has the most sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and suspended particles at 450,000 tons. In 1998, 9,396 samples found the air to contain concentrations levels over 110 micrograms per cubic meter for eight hours. This was a 50% increase from 1997. To constantly regulate the air pollution levels a <span style="font-family: "Lucida Console"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">sampling station has been established to inform the European Monitoring Evaluation Program of the levels of pollutants.

**__Vocabulary__** **La contaminación del Mar Mediterráneo**~ Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea **Water la calidad y cantidad en todo el país~** Water quality and quantity nationwide **La contaminación del aire**~ Air pollution **A****guas residuales**~ raw sewage **Las plantas petroquímicas**~ Petrochemical plants **De dióxido de azufre**~ sulfur dioxide **De dióxido de nitrógeno**~ nitrogen dioxide **Partículas en suspensión**~ suspended particles **Reglamentos**~ regulations **Procedimientos**~ procedures **Racionamiento**~ rationing **Estación de muestreo**~ sampling station