The Climate Action Department has completed the construction and reinforcement of the defenses of the Ebro delta ponds to prevent rising sea levels from flooding the nearby rice fields with salt water.
The works have involved installing dikes 4 meters wide and 1.2 meters above sea level along 58 kilometers around the lagoons, compared to the forecast of a growth of 80 centimeters at the end of the century.
With the help of solar-powered pumps, fresh water will be pumped inside, to counteract the entry of sea water.
The forecast, within the framework of the Delta Strategy, is to complete the construction of the internal defenses of the bay of Els Alfacs – which will begin in May – and Fangar in three years.
After just over a year of work with machinery, Acció Climàtica has completed the construction and regrowth of the guards.
As explained by the territorial director of the Department in Terres de l’Ebre, Jesús Gómez, attempts have been made to use the existing roads, raising them up to 1.2 meters above sea level and materials from the ponds themselves have been used.
The cords will become naturalized with the growth of vegetation, which will help them resist erosion. In sections where there was no vegetation, protective structures have been built with cypress trunks. The performance cost 2.6 million euros.
With the defenses circumventing the ponds connected to the sea, the Generalitat hopes to be able to stop the increase in the level of salt water from ending up penetrating the interior of the rice fields, either due to episodes of low pressure or due to the expected future rise in the level.
Along with the defenses, a drainage structure has been enabled that should allow salt water that may seep underneath to be evacuated.
In fact, providing quality fresh water to the ponds is one of the great challenges in the short term: Acció Climàtica plans to replace the current floodgates with pumps powered by photovoltaic solar panels to achieve this.
This will mean that irrigation water will stop arriving by gravity and will require pumping to compensate not only for the greater amount of salt water on the surface but also for that which filters through the subsoil, which farmers and fishermen fear most. Thus, in parallel, drainage will be implemented to stop salinization.
“We ensure the cultivation of rice and the viability of activities in the Ebro delta before sea level rises”, assured Gómez, who visited the completion of the works accompanying the Government delegate in the Lands of the ‘Ebre, Albert Salvadó.
The head of Climate Action recalled that the solution, within the Delta Strategy deployed by the Generalitat, has been validated by communities of irrigators and rice farmers.
