The hydrological situation in the Segura basin is not improving. It has not rained intensely in recent months in much of the region and the four drops that have fallen in recent days do not serve to stop the loss of water resources at this end of an agonizing year for the Spanish southeast. The reserves in the reservoirs do not reach 20% and the president of the Segura Hydrographic Confederation, Mario Urrea, defines the situation negatively: “Things are not going well from the point of view of resources.” The Governing Board of the basin organization met this Tuesday to report on the hydrological status of the Segura after approving last month a 25% cut in discharges destined for traditional irrigation.
After a week of control over these resources, Urrea pointed out that a 12% water saving has been achieved, but the basin will end the year in an ‘alert’ situation due to lack of rainfall. The changes in temperatures, with the onset of cold weather, have caused crops to demand less water, which has reduced the consumption of agricultural activity. However, “if everything continues and there are no changes” in the reserves, the CHS indicators indicate that in March the state of prolonged drought will have to be declared in Segura. Therefore, the CHS does not plan to propose more water cuts until this situation is reached, which would force the approval of the drought decree with more restrictions for the countryside.
This decree brings with it a 50% reduction in concessions in specific cases, and another important measure that agricultural and irrigation organizations have been asking for for months: the opening of drought wells. The activation of the drilling battery would allow the gain of 40 hectometers per year and, if the situation worsens, the volume would rise to 121 hectometers. Last year, the CHS processed environmental impact statements to save time when preparing the equipment that would extract water from the aquifers. In total, the Confederation has preselected ten bodies of water in the headwaters of the basin and in the rest of the Segura plains, where the network of surveys for drought cases is located.
In response to this issue, and to questions from journalists, Urrea has highlighted that the Segura Hydrological Plan already reflects that “more resources are needed” for the basin, in the context of the progressive cuts that the Tajo-Segura Transfer will suffer until 2027 He is confident that the expansions of the Torrevieja, Valdelentisco and Águilas desalination plants will go ahead and soon, which, together with the plants of the Canales del Taibilla Association, contributed 247 hectometers last year to irrigation and supply to the population.
The most overexploited aquifer in the basin
The Government Board agreed this Tuesday to activate the necessary precautionary measures to stop the overexploitation of the Ascoy-Sopalmo aquifer, from which irrigators from Cieza, Jumilla, Abarán or Fortuna drink. This body of groundwater is the one that suffers from the “highest limit of overexploitation”, as explained by Mario Urrea, who added that the initiative starts and was agreed upon by the users themselves. As LA VERDAD advances today, irrigators will not be able to use the wells located in areas with a lower level of the aquifer, and will be able to use resources from other “more productive” areas, that is, those who have the most will share the water with those who have the least. they can take out.
This is the first stone for the future aquifer management plan, which will force the agrarian transformation societies that benefit from this subsoil water to become irrigation communities. The Confederation allows the annual extraction of 47.8 hectometers, but the rate of renewal of water in the subsoil is one of the lowest in the basin, with a contribution of just over one and a half hectometers due to the rains throughout the year.
Rubira: «They must have the drought wells prepared. “We are going without time”
The Minister of Water and Agriculture, Sara Rubira, has called for the opening of drought wells to alleviate the water deficit suffered by irrigation communities. She has warned that there are already farmers who have had to reduce crops for the winter campaign. “Every time I come to CHS I find bad news,” she commented before the Governing Board meeting.
Rubira has coined the term “water independence” to disgrace President Pedro Sánchez and his government for the water cuts that irrigators have suffered in recent months due to the Tagus aqueduct. «We need solutions to be provided. “The degree of execution of the Confederation’s budget has not reached 54%, when we do not stop demanding the need for new hydraulic infrastructure.”
The Community hopes to have prepared by the beginning of the year a document that reflects how the change in the exploitation rules of the Transfer will impact the water resources of the Segura and the agrarian economy of the Levante.
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