The Board invests 217 million to guarantee quality water to Extremadura

The president of the Board of ExtremaduraMaría Guardiola, presented at the beginning of 2024 the Plan for the Guarantee and Quality of Potable Water of Extremadura, endowed with 217 million euros, which includes 66 hydraulic works distributed throughout all the Extremadura regions. Just over a year of the presentation of the plan, some of these works have already been completed, others have started or tendered, and the rest are scheduled for the coming years.

Extremadura has a reservoir 26.7% of the water in Spain (9,835 hm3 compared to 36,867 of the national total). That is, the community in which only 2.1% of the Spanish population lives, treasures more than a quarter of the country’s fresh water in its territory. It is paradoxical that there are still water supply problems in large areas of the region, because it has not been invested in the construction of the necessary infrastructure. Therefore, one of the first tasks of the government of María Guardiola was the elaboration of an exhaustive study on the situation and the real needs of the different populations and Extremadura regions.

BENEFITS OF THE PLAN

Thanks to this, the areas that do not have (or obsolete) have been determined with basic water infrastructure, such as storage, driving or purification, as it happens singularly throughout the north of Extremadura, where despite the fact that the water runs out of throats and streams a good part of the year, the lack of these basic infrastructures causes cuts in the municipalities when channels are reduced. But, unfortunately, the problem of water travels Extremadura from north to south and from west to east. After this rigorous study, the aforementioned plan that defines the situation of each region regarding the lack of infrastructure, its low quality or resilience, or the antiquity and obsolescence of water treatment systems has been developed.

The plan will be directly benefited 451,000 Extremadura, 42% of the population, thanks to the construction or renewal of hydraulic infrastructure that is directly supplied. To do this, it has been necessary to mobilize economic resources of all available funds: Feder 21-27, Next Generation (MRR), Interritorial and cohesion and even funds of the Board of Extremadura, with the idea that the works are in service before 2028. In addition, purification and sanitation works are added, as well as the channel infrastructure in the urban areas with the most rains with the most rains of rains with the most rains torrential.

All these plans are being developed satisfactorily, with the following result and, thus, in 2024, in supply, 15 works have been completed and 7 new projects have been written (an investment of more than 10 million euros). In debugging and sanitation, 11 works have been completed in which 18.5 million have been invested, and two works of channeling with an investment exceeding € 800,000. In summary, in the first year of the plan almost 30 million euros have been invested, tripling the average annual investment of the previous exercises.

In works in execution, it should be noted that, at the moment, the Board is developing 30 works (16 of supply and 14 of purification or sanitation) among which it deserves to highlight the supply raft to Jerte, the improvement of the supplies to the joints of three towers and ayuela river, the supply to Valencia of the ventos The Mérida Wad or the New Edar de Rena and Villar de Rena. To this we must add another 30 million in works already hired (about to start) or in the tender. Specifically, in supply, 23.5 million will be invested, in purification or sanitation almost 6 million and another € 800,000 in channeling to prevent floods.

In short, the Board of Extremadura is developing an arduous work because it is very aware that such a precious and necessary good as water must be guaranteed in each population and each Extremadura, alive where you live, must have quality water, in addition to a careful environment, with purified wastewater.