The Government of Aragon opposes the formal request for delegation of powers that the Generalitat will make to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition to manage the entire Segre River, the main tributary of the Ebro. “We will defend the unity of the basin so that it continues depending on the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation (CHE), as it has for 100 years.
It makes no sense to cut up the river,” sources from the Aragonese Executive assure this newspaper.
The transfer of powers in this basin is a historical demand of different Catalan parties.
Aragon, where a PP coalition governs with Vox, also rejects the transfer of powers based on the burden that, they say, it would mean for its agriculture.
“There is not much water here either.
Last year we lost half of the crops, which amount to 1.5 billion euros,” they say from the Aragon government, which completely rules out a transfer.
From its source in the French municipality of Llo until it flows into the Ebro, the Segre river crosses a large part of Lleida and is the responsibility of the CHE, which depends on the Government.
The Segre irrigates thousands of agricultural hectares of the Urgell Canal and fills the reserves of the Mequinenza reservoir (Aragon), which is at 80% of its capacity and which has allowed cities like Tarragona to avoid the worst restrictions of the drought.
In addition, it serves as a drinking water supplier for some municipalities distributed around the hydraulic infrastructure.
In fact, in 2008, the then
Minister
of the Environment, Francesc Baltasar, tried to carry out a transfer from the Segre to bring water to the metropolitan area of Barcelona to address the drought.
The project, however, did not see the light of day due to the mobilizations of the farmers of Lleida, Bajo Ebro and the refusal of the CHE, which preferred a connection with the excess water from the Ebro in Tarragona.
More information
Six graphs that explain the drought emergency in Catalonia
The Generalitat currently has powers to monitor the levels of reservoirs such as Rialb (Lleida), which is at 29% capacity, with 116 cubic hectometres.
The Catalan Water Agency (ACA) is in charge of this inspection control.
The Minister of Climate Action, David Mascort, held a meeting on Monday with the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, in which, in addition to agreeing on the construction of two new desalination plants and the arrival of ships from Valencia, he put on the table the possibility of Catalonia completely controlling the Segre basin.
The Ministry of Ribera awaits a “formal request” from the Government regarding this transfer.
“Delegating the powers of a river when it rises in one community 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 in Parliament.
The reluctance to delegate powers in the basin under the umbrella of the Generalitat not only resonates beyond the Monegros.
“From the platform in Defense of the Ebro we have always defended that the rivers are delimited by the mountains and have nothing to do with the administrations.
The administrative borders can change, but the rivers and their basins cannot,” explains Susanna Abella from the Platform in Defense of Ebre, the entity that brought together the opposition to the transfer policy of the Government of José María Aznar (PP) in 2001. , and also the interconnection between Tarragona and Barcelona initiated by the tripartite Government (PSC, ERC and initiative), in 2008. “We position ourselves in favor of the unity of the basin.
Whether we like it or not, we are inside it,” adds Abella.
One of the arguments of the Generalitat to demand “delegation” in management (a request not yet formalized, according to Ministry sources) is the improvement of efficiency in the area's irrigation systems to save on water consumption. .
The former Councilor for Climate Action Teresa Jordà (ERC), predecessor of David Mascort, claimed in February 2023 that this “savings” had to end up being managed by Catalonia.
From the Platform in Defense of the Ebre, however, they denounce that on too many occasions the improvement of irrigation systems does not end up benefiting either the river or its ecosystems.
“The new techniques have ended up aimed at increasing irrigation and doubling harvests,” reproaches Abella.
The transfer of powers, a gibberish
It is not the first time that the management model of rivers that flow through more than one community generates legal conflicts between communities.
The first precedents for changing the powers of a basin date back to January 2009, when Andalusia acquired complete management of the Guadalquivir, after agreement with the Government, because 90.2% of this basin runs through its territory and almost all Their resources go to this community.
For the cases of the Guadalquivir and the Ebro, in which the conflict arises with other communities (in the Andalusian case, with Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia; in the Catalan case, with Aragon), the Constitution establishes in article 149 that the State has “exclusive jurisdiction over (...) the legislation, management and concession of hydraulic resources and uses.”
The Junta of Extremadura appealed to the rupture of the basin to the Constitutional Court, which in March 2011 overturned article 51 of the 2007 reform of the Andalusian Statute, which granted Andalusia these exclusive powers over the Guadalquivir basin.
For two years and 10 months, Andalusia controlled the uses, water concessions and hydraulic infrastructures.
After the Extremaduran appeal, the Andalusian Junta ended up returning control over the waters of the Guadalquivir to the Government in October 2011 because they did not find a solution that complied with the Constitutional ruling, although they tried to take advantage of article 150.2 of the Constitution, which allows the State delegate powers through an organic law.
The Government of Mariano Rajoy finally rejected the transfer of jurisdiction of the Guadalquivir basin.
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