Case Study 1: Matarraña River Basin - Euwareness

Even though the Matarraña river basin is neither too long nor too populated, the
climatic, geographical, social and economic characteristics in different parts of the river
basin are very different. And so the water uses and demands are. In general terms,
three different areas can be distinguished along the river basin: the higher, the middle
and the lower basin. The main municipalities located in the three areas are included in
the following table:
Higher basin
Beceite
Valderrobres
The higher river basin
Middle basin
Mazaleón
Maella
Lower basin
Fabara
Nonaspe
The Matarraña river is characterised by being narrow at its head and resembles a
torrent or a stream. This area has lower needs of water than the rest of the river basin,
both because users located at the higher river basin have traditionally had the right to
use relatively more water than the rest of the river basin users, and because the
extension of irrigated lands are much lower in the higher than in the middle and lower
basins.
In the mid sixties, peach crop —which requests high quantities of water— was timidly
introduced in the higher basin, but in the seventies most crop lands were reconverted
into cattle farms (and then water demands decreased). Along the nineties, rural tourism
has become an important source of income in this area, but this does not seem to put
too much pressure on the water issue. To sum up, the higher river basin does not have
severe problems of water scarcity. However, it has been the destination of several
regulation works that have been promoted by the Ebro river basin administration —the
Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro (CHE)— in order to secure water for the middle
and lower river basins: the Pena water dam, that was constructed in 1930; the
diversion tunnels, that were built in 1978; and the pumping project, that was installed in
1998. However, given the perceived lack of efficiency of these works, as well as their
cost for the higher river basin (in terms of environmental impact, expropriations,
economic cost, etc), actors located at the higher basin have increasingly rejected
projects promoted by the CHE.
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