The Generalitat will formally ask the Ministry for the Ecological Transition of the Government of Spain to “manage” the Segre River, a historical demand of different governments that had its peak in the great drought of 2008, when the then tripartite Government (PSC, ERC and Initiative ) requested an interconnection to divert water from Barcelona, then also with serious supply problems.
“We want to manage the water of the Segre,” said the Climate Action counselor, David Mascort, during his appearance this Tuesday in Parliament to explain the situation of the worst drought that the community has experienced since records began.
Sources from the Ministry, competent in the management of this hydrological system, confirm the verbal request by the Generalitat last Monday in the meeting with Minister Teresa Ribera, but do not specify details.
“The letter has not yet arrived,” these sources add about the “formal” request that they are already waiting for from the Generalitat.
The Segre is the tributary of the Ebro River (with which it converges during its final stretch, in Aragon), that contributes the most volume: up to 1,900 cubic meters of water per second, according to data from the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation (CHE).
This is a historical claim of the community that starts from a complex starting point: the river rises on the northern slope of the Segre peak, in the French municipality of Llo and flows into the Ebro river, in its final section in Mequinenza (Aragon). ), which is at 80% of its capacity.
The river, however, runs mostly through Catalan territory, in Lleida, and before that, one of its tributaries, the Valira, runs through Andorra.
It is also a large water artery that feeds the irrigation of thousands of agricultural hectares of the Urgell canal (Lleida).
“Delegating the powers of a river when one community is born and dies in another is very complicated.
Now we will send it formally (to the Government), because technically they do not see it,” Mascort acknowledged on Tuesday at the parliamentary headquarters.
More information
A resident of Esponellà (Girona) was fined for using 56 times more water than the municipality's average
Given this verbal request last Monday for the transfer of water management, the general director of Water of the central Government, María Dolores Pascual, who accompanied Minister Ribera in the meeting with Mascort, conveyed to the Government that the Catalan Water Agency (ACA ) “already participates in the management of Segre,” say sources familiar with the meeting.
Sources from the ACA, the Government's highest water management body, explain that the powers “shared” with the CHE are based “on inspection issues, basically.”
Mascort himself recognized it this way in the commission this Tuesday: “The CHE calls it the water police.
“It is the competence that the ACA has to monitor and supervise the reservoirs,” he stated.
The change of ownership of a basin, although larger, was already attempted in 2009 with the transfer of management of the Guadalquivir to Andalusia.
This jurisdiction was included in the new Statute of the Andalusian community, but was revoked by the Constitutional Court at the request of the Junta de Extremadura.
This hydrological system of the Ebro basin, managed by the CHE and which depends on the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, feeds the main reservoirs in the area, such as Rialb, which is at 29% capacity, with 116 cubic hectometers (hm³).
At the same time last year, it was at 10% (44 hm³).
The average for the last five years in the same period is 230 hm³, 39% of its capacity.
The water that passes from the Segre River to the Urgell Canal also serves as a water supplier for some municipalities distributed around the hydraulic infrastructure.
That it is under the powers of the central government means that the CHE is in charge of making investments, such as in irrigation systems, and is responsible for applying hydraulic regulations to restrict consumption in the area.
The basin, in fact, is also suffering from drought, although more mildly than the Ter-Llobregat system, which depends on the Government of Pere Aragonès.
The CHE maintains the emergency declaration, based on its regulations, in the area.
Mascort did not clarify on Tuesday what will be asked of the Ministry.
Although the starting point seems to be high.
“The idea is to manage water, basically.
But hey, we'll see if we can manage it or participate…” he said.
“We already know what the vision of the State is (...).
Now at least we will send it to you, formally, after having spoken about it a few times (with the Ministry).”
That same morning, Minister Ribera was asked on
RNE
if they completely ruled out a transfer of the Ebro. The minister responded: “No one has raised this.
In formal terms, this request has never reached the CHE,” said Ribera, who added: “Let's think that we will have to do what is appropriate from time to time.
But, as I said, no one has raised it.”
Although she made it clear that it is not “one of the options we are considering.”
David Mascort's predecessor in the ministry, Teresa Jordà (now a deputy in Congress), stated in an interview with the
Segre
newspaper published on May 15, 2023:
“
We do not want the Urgell Canal to become another Renfe.
They manage but the harmed are us, the citizens and the
farmers
.
“We want all the responsibilities.”
Three months earlier, the then counselor criticized the management of the CHE on the same day that Catalonia entered the exceptional phase due to the drought (the one prior to the current emergency) due to the management of the Ministry, in her opinion, in that territory.
“Her response [to the drought situation] has been as frivolous as 'God will provide'.
"Let them explain to us what measures they are going to adopt," said Jordà, who believed that the CHE was not taking appropriate measures.
Jordà requested a meeting with the body to address “the situation of Catalan irrigators in the Ebro basin.”
The appointment occurred a month later.
The secretary of Rural Agenda, Oriol Anson, and the then president of the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation, María Dolores Pascual, participated in it.
Also on the table were the pending works on the Urgell Canal, with funds from Next Generation, and with which the aim is to modernize the irrigation system to save water.
The Generalitat transmitted that this “surplus water”, which is saved after the execution of the works, ends up being managed by the community itself.
After the meeting, on March 21, 2023, sources from the Generalitat then explained to this newspaper that the CHE “agreed” that the water savings generated as a result of these investments would remain in Catalonia and be the Government who will manage these additional resources within the community.
You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya on
and
X
, or sign up here to receive
our weekly newsletter
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I am already a subscriber
_