Spanish Farmers Modernize Water Control

The operator closes the lockgate manually on the Jucar irrigation canal on the outskirts of Valencia, east Spain, Thursday May 17, 2007. The Moorish invaders that once ruled Spain brought with them a clever irrigation system that helped turn arid land into verdant fields. More than 1,000 years later it is still largely in use, and Spain remains one of Europe\'s breadbaskets. But after years of chronic drought coupled with vastly increased water use, not to mention worrying climatic change, farm groups have realized it\'s high time for change, it\'s time to go digital. Spain\'s federation of irrigators, known as Fenacore, is promoting an initiative to computerize Spain\'s irrigation system by 2010, connecting some 500,000 farmers to an irrigation network headquartered outside Madrid. The scheme should allow valuable water to be monitored and controlled by computer, drop by precious drop. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

(AP) -- The Moorish invaders who once ruled Spain brought with them a clever irrigation system that helped turn arid land into verdant fields. A millennium later it is still largely in use, and Spain remains one of Europe's breadbaskets.