The state of drought in the Guadalquivir Basin has not been overcome. Despite the recent rains, which have made it possible to increase the irrigation quota in the area and five years of human consumption have been assured, the situation remains complicated. This was confirmed today by the president of the CHG Confederation, Joaquín Páez, who has announced that limitations and restrictions are around the corner in case it does not rain this spring and summer.
The basin, currently at 41% of its capacity, remains in a state of alert due to drought and, if it does not continue impounding water, on September 30 it will return to a state of emergency.
For the moment, however, as has been announced, the filling of swimming pools during the summer season is guaranteed in the areas of the CHG’s jurisdiction, thus marking a distance from the possible restrictions that the Junta de Andalucía may pose in other areas. demarcations.
In a meeting organized this Tuesday by Cadena Ser, the president of the CHG has valued the relief that the Holy Week rains have brought, which has allowed the irrigation system to have two thirds of its normal supply of water for this irrigation campaign and It also guarantees water supply (human use) for four or five years, although it warns that the emergency situation could return if it does not rain in the coming months.
The current situation of the basin guarantees the filling of the pools that depend on the Guadalquivir Confederation system, according to Páez, who has avoided arguing with the Board on this issue due to possible restrictions in other areas of autonomous jurisdiction.
He has defended the effective and reliable management of water in the Guadalquivir basin, which controls a quarter of Spain’s irrigated land with almost 900,000 hectares, and has recalled that it was decided a long time ago that irrigated hectares will not be expanded and has confirmed that This remains the “cornerstone of planning.”
He has also claimed the work of executing the works by the CHG – which depends on the Ministry for the Ecological Transition – and which has been estimated at 57 million allocated to 23 emergency initiatives executed or in process, while he has questioned that the Andalusian Government has carried out 1,500 million euros in hydraulic works.
In this sense, he has specified that it is one thing to execute and another to mobilize investment and he has criticized the Board for generating “confusion since a treatment plant is not an emergency work due to drought but rather a planning one.”
Asked about the situation in Doñana, Joaquín Páez stated that “it has never been closer to recovery and is on a path in which it is impossible to turn back” in its environmental progress thanks to the work of the third vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera, for the recovery of the national park, and has maintained that the agreement signed with the municipalities of that region to stop illegal irrigation guarantees the protection of the park.
According to Joaquín Páez, the purchase by the Andalusian Government of the Veta la Palma estate, in Puebla del Río (Seville), is a good initiative to which the “environmental commitment of the owners” has also contributed, although he has pointed out that we must “put governance” in the park so that each administration, within its powers, avoids illegal irrigation.
In this sense, he specified, if greenhouses are installed, the CHG has no powers in the planning of the territory, although in terms of water it has closed illegal wells, 450 for replacement, 240 for execution and another 308 are in the portfolio.
“More and more wells are being closed because there is more and more governance,” highlighted the president of the CHG.
