Segura Hydrographic Demarcation Projects

The Ministry of Agriculture, Feed and Environment is carrying out a series of actions framed within what is known as the National River Restoration Strategy, which aims to recover and maintain the ecological health of our rivers and watercourses in general, fostering their cultural heritage and showcasing their attributes and benefits.

This strategy is developed in consonance with the requirements established by the Water Framework Directive, approved in December 2000, and which is mandatory for Spain, whose final objective is that rivers and streams recover their “ecological health”.

The work to be undertaken within the Strategy framework aims to achieve the following general objectives:

• To recover the watercourse's dynamic processes and return them as close as possible to their natural or reference state.
• To enable the river to increase its possibilities to adapt to natural disturbances.
• To foster the creation of a sustainable river ecosystem, compatible with territorial usage and better use of the river resources.
• Comply with the provisions of the Water Framework Directive.

In order to achieve these objective, the National River Restoration Strategy has a series of actions in place: Training and Education, Volunteer program, Protection and conservation, Administrative coordination and public participation, Restoration and Rehabilitation. As such, actions in the basin, rehabilitation in urban sections and restoration in non-urban sections fall within the area of “Restoration and rehabilitation”.

The Segura Hydrographic Confederation Water Commissioner is responsible for implementing the National Strategy in the Segura Demarcation, for which it plans to create river restoration and improvement projects.

Restoration projects are implemented through the following work phases:

• River ecological status assessment.
  

  The ecological status of the river section subject to restoration, and particularly the following elements, are analyzed:

  • Conditions of the river and river section:
    1. Hydrology and water quality.
    2. Geomorphology.
    3. Banks and flood plains.
    4. Aquatic biological communities.
  • Basin conditions, assessment of the ecological characteristics of the basin.
  • Other ecological data of interest that may add more details about the river section at which the river restoration project is aimed.
  
   
• Public presentation process.
  

  Once we have information about the stress and impact suffered by this section of river and ecological assessment has been carried out, a reference image will be established, i.e., an image of what the river would look like in natural conditions.

  A participative meeting can then be held with the agents and interested parties involved to present the results of the ecological status assessment, the main degradation factors and the reference image.

  Over all this, and as a result of the debate about the objectives of the project during this meeting, the target image with the works necessary for the river to reach its best possible state will be determined.

  
   
• Drafting of the technical river restoration project.
  

  We will try to achieve the objectives established in the previous phase through restoration projects.

  Currently, the Water Commissioner is developing the following projects:

  Segura Hydrographic Demarcation Projects

  Project	Status
  Carrasquilla riverbed ecological improvement project. Municipality of Cartagena (Murcia).	COMPLETED
  Mula river ecological improvement project. Municipalities of Mula and Albudeite (Murcia).	COMPLETED
  Perea riverbed ecological improvement project. Municipality of Mula (Murcia).	COMPLETED
  Chico river restoration project. Municipalities of Vélez Blanco and Vélez Rubio (Almería).	COMPLETED
  Maria river ecological restoration project. Municipality of Maria (Almería).	COMPLETED
  Chirivel riverbed restoration project from Chirivel to its confluence with the Chico river. Municipalities of Chirivel and Vélez Rubio (Almería).	COMPLETED
  Nacimiento river ecological improvement project, Municipalities of Orihuela and Pilar de la Horadada (Alicante).	COMPLETED
  Taibilla ecological improvement project. Municipality of Nerpio (Albacete).	COMPLETED
  Garruchal riverbed ecological improvement project. Municipality of Murcia.	PENDING
  La Concordia ravine ecological improvement project. Municipality of Elche de la Sierra (Albacete).	PENDING