Human activity over Motril-Salobreña aquifer (south of Spain) is changing traditional land uses during
the last 50 years. In this work we aim to evaluate and quantify the main changes analyzing the aerial
photos of different years. The results show a dramatic decrease in the crops of sugarcane and elevated
increases of the greenhouses and subtropical trees agriculture extent. Also the surface of the urban areas
has been extended noticeably. The direct consequences calculated in this work are a decrease of the
recharge of the aquifer by irrigation of crops near to 75 %. The velocity of these changes and the magnitude
of them point out the serious risk that involves the Motril-Salobreña aquifer resources