By Julia Hayley MADRID, March 20 (Reuters) - Spain is planning to shake up management of its limited water reserves with a new law that will spell out exactly who controls what, Environment Minister Cristina Narbona said on Tuesday. As well as adapting Spanish law to the European Union's directive on water, the law aims to increase protection of water reserves and river ecosystems and will guarantee the whole population access to at least 60 litres a day of clean water. Several of Spain's autonomous regions have tried to claim control of rivers and water reserves in their territory in recent months and some have tried to block transfers to others. The new law will spell out the central government's role in planning and managing rivers that run through more than one region -- already enshrined in Spain's constitution -- but will allow the regions to have their say, too, in a bid to make them behave more responsibly. It will give the regions greater control over rivers that run only through their territory. Spain's 17 regional governments are already responsible for controlling contamination, the environment and water supply and treatment in their territories. They also take decisions on urban planning, agricultural water allowances and land use. "We cannot create water policies without having a framework which makes the regions share responsibility for managing rivers," Environment Minister Cristina Narbona said. Transfers of water between regions, such as from the Tagus in central Spain to the drier Segura basin in the southeast, remain the exclusive reserve of the central government but the regions will in future have the right to give their opinion. Water reserves covered by the new law include not only internal rivers, lakes and aquifers, but also coastal waters and water that is in transit through a region, Narbona said. Spain's longest rivers, such as the Ebro, run through several regions before reaching the sea, while the Tagus and the Duero flow westwards into Portugal. The National Water Council starts debating the draft law on Tuesday and has until March 29 to give an opinion. Ministers then have to give it the green light so that it can be sent to parliament in April, Narbona told journalists. She said it should be passed before the next general election, due by March 2008.
