“The entire province of Castellón is in a worse shortage situation than last month because it has not rained, as has been happening in the last six months.” It is explained by Arancha Fidalgo, head of the Hydrological Planning Office of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ), who points out that the Sènia-Maestrazgo system has entered into an emergency situation due to water shortage, as indicated in the monitoring report of the Drought and shortages for January 2024 from the CHJ published yesterday. The Palancia-Los Valles system was already in this situation, which repeats, while the Mijares-Plana of Castellón worsens and goes into a pre-alert situation.
Given this circumstance, Fidalgo points out that the CHJ has a special drought plan that was approved in November 2018 that contemplates a series of measures. In the case of the Sènia–Maestrazgo system, the activation of emergency plans is included in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants; the establishment of restrictions for the use of irrigation; as well as the possibility of supplying water from some desalination plants or from the so-called drought wells that are located near the Ulldecona reservoir and that could be put into operation.
The situation in the south of the Júcar basin is not very promising either since the monitoring report detects pre-alerts in three other systems – Vinalopó-Alacantí, Marina Baixa and Serpis – while the pre-alert that existed last month in the Marina Alta is now be a full-fledged alert.
Regarding the situation in the systems of the Segura hydrographic district, the main system is also on alert, there is another on pre-alert and two on a normality index.
The Júcar Hydrographic Confederation explains to La Vanguardia that, despite the difficulties in the province of Castellón, the situation of exceptional drought has not been declared but rather an emergency situation due to shortages. This is valued based on rainfall, river flows, the volume of dammed water and the volumes of groundwater.
Just yesterday, the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, placed emphasis on the water needs of the Valencian countryside, especially in the south. The PP leader assured that with “sufficient guarantees” the Valencian executive will not oppose the transfer of ships with water from the Sagunt desalination plant to Catalonia: “We are not going to deny water to those who once denied it to us. Nothing can be built on revenge.”
Of course, the Alicante president asked “not to deny water to water the tomatoes that the President of the Government says are unbeatable.” Mazón pointed out that the Valencian countryside “is dying of thirst” and demanded from the Government “the same rigor” that has been taken to propose the solution to the drought in Catalonia in the Tajo-Segura transfer.
Yesterday, during her visit to Barcelona, ??the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, explained that the cost of water would be paid by the State, while boat transportation and connections for unloading at the port of Barcelona would be borne by the government. Catalan, in case this solution had to be implemented. In such a way that the intervention would not have any effect on the Valencian Community since, in addition, the infrastructure of Sagunt is now operating at 10% of its capacity.
In response to Mazón’s statements asking for “water coherence” from the Executive, the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, responded: “I stick with the theory of water solidarity in the Levant: water to drink, yes. Water to irrigate, if there is any. And there is not enough here.”
