Case Study 1: Matarraña River Basin - Euwareness

While the CHE still waited for a response of the ministry of the Environment to the
financing of the lateral pools, the situations in the Matarraña river basin was critical
again due to a new period of water scarcity (the Pena dam has 5% of its capacity). As
demands risked again of not being covered the conflict between the higher and the
lower basin reappears. As a urgent response to the problem, the Ministry of the
Environment announced it would finance some wells in the headwaters of the Ulldemó
and he Matarraña rivers in order to use groundwater. The municipalities of the higher
basin soon announced their opposition to the project and so did the Mancommunity of
Municipalities of the Matarraña river basin. The main reasons of their opposition were
that the project was planned to be placed in an area (“El Parrissal”) that constitutes one
of the most attractive nature areas of the basin and that it would also have negative
effects on surface waters. Finally, the CHE renounced to the project not only because
the high basin municipalities opposed to it but because also did others from the
provinces of Tarragona (Catalonia), Castelló (Valencia) and even the regional
government.
Finally, by the end of April, the whole basin signs an agreement. Nine of the 12
municipalities in the basin (representing the neighbours), the Central Union
(representing the irrigation unions), PLADEMA and the Fundacion Ecología y
Desarrollo (representing the environmental and conservacionist interests) reached an
agreement that was also supported by the regional government and the CHE. In this
document the different actors agreed to promote the construction of two lateral pools
as an urgent solution to the water scarcity situation. These two pools were to be
located in the middle basin between the municipalities of Mazaleón, Calaceite and
Maella. The first pool, of 1hm3 of capacity, would be fed by waters pumped up from he
Ebro river and waters diverted form the Matarraña. The second one, also of 1 hm3
capacity, would be only fed by water coming from the Matarraña river. The basin actors
also undertook to take into account the study of the regional government about he
environmental restrictions imposed by the General Direction for the Environment to the
construction of the pools. They also agreed on rejecting the construction of wells in
order to use groundwaters of the higher basin. However, the agreement did not
represent the abandoning of the idea of constructing larger regulative infrastructures in
the future (as the Pontet or Torre del Compte dams). The following table summarises
the main contents of the Agreement:
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