Spain has decided to build about 20 desalination plants in an attempt to water its parched south-east without raiding the fast-running rivers of the relatively well-watered and prosperous north. A decree authorising a diversion from the Ebro river, put on hold when Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Government took power, is expected to be struck out at a Cabinet meeting and replaced by a euros 3.7-billion plan relying on many smaller schemes. They will include up to 20 desalination plants on the east coast, which already has Europe's biggest reverse osmosis desalination plant at Carboneras. The new plants will slake the thirst not only of the market gardens of Murcia and the intensive plastic-tented farms of Almeria in Andalucia but also of the numerous new tourist developments and golf courses in this relatively unspoilt stretch of the Mediterranean coast.