The Plenary Session of the Governing Board of the General Community of Irrigators of the Canals of Urgell this Monday has agreed to start the irrigation campaign on Monday, March 25, after the episode of rain and snowfall that occurred this weekend in different points of the Lleida district.
The irrigation campaign will begin the same day through both the main and auxiliary canals. Irrigators will be able to place irrigation orders between March 12 and 21.
This Monday the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Begoña Garcia, said in Lleida that the Spanish Government will stand with the Generalitat for the modernization “in the future and in phases” of the Canal d’Urgell. He was thus responding to the climate action advisor, David Mascort, who insisted in Parliament on the need for the Spanish executive to modernize this channel.
Garcia has acknowledged that the work has a very high cost because there are 70,000 hectares and an agreement is necessary to determine who assumes what, although at the moment there is no date for it to be signed.
Yes, the agreements were signed this Monday for the contribution of 45 million euros from the State to the Aragón and Catalonia and Pinyana canals, to carry out modernization works that will allow, among others, to reduce water consumption by 10%.
The two agreements for irrigation modernization signed this Monday are for the Aragón and Catalunya canals and the Pinyana canal.
In Aragon and Catalonia, 20 million euros will be invested in a photovoltaic solar plant project to reduce the energy costs of irrigators.
In Pinyana, the modernization of sector 3 will be addressed for a value of 25 million euros. They will be drip or sprinkler irrigation works linked to a natural pressure system.
The objective is that there are no fossil energies in use so that energy costs for irrigators and also the carbon footprint are reduced. All works include remote control so that users can request water with mobile phones.
The investment in Catalonia as a whole is 140.83 million euros in 8 actions since some works in the province of Girona are also included.
García has stressed that the works must begin before the end of next summer because they have a completion period that is the summer of 2026. The financing comes from European funds but also from the ministry and irrigators must contribute 20% plus VAT of the cost of the work.