In 2027, several photovoltaic power plants planned in the vicinity of the Júcar Vinalopó transfer pumping stations (Panser, Llanera and Moixent) should come into service. These installations are essential to reduce energy costs and compensate for the excess costs of the first years of operation.
Furthermore, as explained in Aspe by the Secretary of State for the Environment of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Hugo Morán, the costs of the services related to the management of the transfer water, including the environmental ones, will not be passed on. entirely on the end users, so that they have the possibility of obtaining water at a “reasonable cost”. The definitive agreement initially establishes a price of 24 cents per cubic meter.
At the signing ceremony, the president of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, Miguel Polo, was “very satisfied” with an agreement that will benefit more than 20,000 irrigators and “will ensure the supply of several municipalities throughout the area.” while emphasizing the environmental purpose of this agreement.
“Recovering the good condition of the groundwater bodies of the entire Vinalopó area is the priority objective of this agreement. The implementation of the Júcar-Vinalopó transfer marks the beginning of the path towards sustainable development and the achievement of the objectives of the Water Framework Directive,” he stated.
The agreement, signed after the authorization of the Council of Ministers a few weeks ago, guarantees the shipment of water for the next 10 years “as long as there is an exploitation plan that ensures the reduction of groundwater extractions.”
Ángel Urbina, president of the Central Board of Users of Vinalopó-Alacantí, highlighted that the agreement will allow the entire Vinalopó area “to become an example of water management in the Spanish State.” However, he has specified that the water that arrives “will not serve to increase irrigation, but to balance the levels of the aquifers.”
All of them, in addition to the president of the state company Acuamed, Francisco Baratech, signed this “historic agreement” this Tuesday at the Wagner Theater in Aspe, which will guarantee irrigation water for agriculture in the area, by replacing part of the groundwater extractions from leftovers from the Júcar.
In turn, this will make it possible to recover the good condition of the water masses of the overexploited aquifers in the entire Vinalopó area and will guarantee the supply of the populations in the interior of the province of Alicante. All of this, in accordance with the current Hydrological Plan of the Demarcation.
The Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, and the general director of Water at MITECO, Teodoro Estrela, also attended, as reported by this department in a statement.
Morán has highlighted the agreement, which has been reached with “a lot of dialogue and intense work” by the Government and the irrigation communities to “achieve water peace” through a “historic agreement that will guarantee water for the next ten years.”
Likewise, he pointed out that it shows the “commitment” of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge to “achieve the recovery of groundwater” and has maintained that it represents “a before and after” in the protection of aquifers. from the Vinalopó area.
The agreement foresees a supply path that involves a transfer of more than 278 hm3 for the next decade, a minimum supply volume that has been established taking into account the foreseeable demand of end users, the technical and regulatory capacity of the infrastructure. , the availability of flows in the Marquesa weir, as well as the technical and regulatory capacity of the post-transfer, an infrastructure that depends on the Generalitat Valenciana.
For his part, the president of the Alicante Provincial Council, Toni Pérez, has praised in a statement the importance of this agreement “for the guarantee and security it offers in obtaining water at a more or less reasonable price.” “Thanks to this agreement, water will finally be guaranteed after 25 years for a period of ten years, although it is true that less than that promised in the Júcar-Vinalopó Plan of 1998,” he indicated.
Pérez attended the event considering that “he had to accompany the irrigators, farmers and producers of this basin” and asked “to remember all those who have fought for so many years to make what begins today a reality.” .
Likewise, he has requested that the post-transfer works be carried out to bring water to the irrigation communities on the left bank and has highlighted the work that the Alicante Provincial Council is doing to improve the use of water in the province. .
The Júcar-Vinalopó is an infrastructure declared of general interest of the State, operated by the state company Acuamed. Its main objective is the transfer of excess flows from the Júcar River, derived from the Marquesa weir in Cullera, to the head of the Vinalopó River basin, in the vicinity of the municipality of Villena, to alleviate the overexploitation of the aquifers of the Alto and Medio Vinalopó.
It has an approximate length of 95 kilometers, includes two tunnels, four pumping stations with a total of 45 MW of installed power and three intermediate regulation ponds, with a total volume of 300,000 m3, among others. The total investment budget has exceeded 335 million euros, of which the European Commission has financed 120.
