Water capital is very low because, during the last decades, water pollution due to agricultural activities has affected soils with low organic matter content and there has been low rainfall. According to the GIS coverage obtained from the national government areas vulnerable to land degradation coveri about 30 % of the total area.

Vegetation is moderate to low vegetation quality. Moderate quality vegetation covers over 40 % of the total area, occupying both the flood plain and a significant part of the both valley sides. Low quality vegetation covers about 60 % of the total area and is mainly in the valley bottom.

The conversion of agricultural land to new citrus orchards has destroyed the terraces developed for previous rainfed crops. After one year of cultivation, there is a crusting on the topsoil (82 %) due to the use of fertilizers and herbicides and to the lack of a vegetation cover to protect the soil from raindrop impact. Vegetation covers about 4% of topsoil and stoniness (7.29 %), rills (5.24 %), gullies (0.69 %) and cliffs (0.56 %) have all appeared.

As a result, regulation of hydrological processes is being affected: in citrus orchards, runoff is faster than in other plotareas s due to the emerging ponding. Runoff is over 50% in citrus orchards.

Soil depth reduction is the major (slow) critical variable. Soil depth reduction varies between under 0.5 cm in plains areas and on soil protected by vegetation (89 %) to over 1 cm in steepest areas occupied by crops (12 %).

Land use is another fast critical variable: olive groves (47%), cereals (35%) and vineyards (28%) are replaced by irrigated crops, especially by citrus orchards (now 32%) in the lowlands. This intensification of agriculture contributes to a great increase in productivity over the past 30 years, but it is also accompanied by significant degradation.

The continuous application of chemicals exceeds the storage capacity of the soils and the contaminants have found their way to river and groundwater. There is are large amounts of nitrates in the groundwater. In addition, the quick expansion of irrigation technologies (e.g. drip irrigation or use of powerful water pumps) cause the overexploitation of aquifers and serious reservoir depletion and groundwater imbalances.

The location quotient shows that both the construction and the tertiary activities are the most important activities in recent times. There is a dramatic growth in the number of buildings constructed in the whole the watershed, especially during the economic growth phase.