The Government of Aragon, through the Aragonese Water Institute, has submitted these two projects for flood risk reduction, which together have a budget of 4.6 million euros.
The Ebro Resilience Strategy is moving forward with actions by all its partners to achieve a middle stretch of the Ebro River, from Logroño (La Rioja) to Logroño (La Rioja). a La Zaida (Zaragoza) more resilient, adapted to the risk of flooding, where the effects and economic, social and personal costs suffered during and after flood episodes are reduced.
The Government of Aragon, through the Aragonese Water Institutesubmits to public information the river restoration and habitat enhancement projects in two sections of the Strategy, the 7 in Alcala de Ebro, Remolinos and Luceni and the 9 in Torres de Berrellén and SobradielThe area is made up of all its municipalities in the province of Zaragoza.
The announcements of this administrative step have been published in the Official State Gaz ette (section 9 on April 3 y tranche 7 on April 4).
The technical proposal to reduce the risks of flooding in these sections has been declared of regional interest by the Aragonese government and the actions are financed by the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (NextGeneration EU) within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan..
Prior to the drafting of the project, the Government of Aragon has held public meetings to share information with the riverside population. In addition, this April, the Aragonese Executive is going to carry out a series of new public conferences to explain the actions of these projects in Torres de Berrellén and Sobradiel, on April 15 at 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm, respectively, and in Remolinos and Alcalá de Ebro on April 16 at 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm, respectively.
Within the scope of the Ebro Resilience Strategy, a total of 260 kilometers of the Ebro River are being studied, divided into sections. The main priority of these studies is to evaluate the current protection of urban centers for floods with a return period equal to or less than 25 years. In addition to this main objective, potential damage in non-urban areas will be studied for floods with a 10-year return period, as well as other additional objectives specific to each section (essential services, communication routes, environmental values, protected species, etc.).
The Strategy involves the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challengethe Hydrographic Confederation of the Ebro and the Autonomous Communities of Aragon , La Rioja y Navarra working together in the implementation of the selected measures.
Performance section 7
The project designed for the Alcalá Ebro-Remolinos-Luceni Alcalá de Ebro-Remolinos-Luceni stretch has an execution budget of 1,845,467 euros. The objective is to increase the level of protection of urban areas, preventing flooding for floods with a return period of 25 years and reducing the current impact on agricultural land.
To achieve this effect, the actions are focused on a stretch of about 11 kilometers, in the course of the Ebro between El Camponuevo and Los Morerales, in the municipalities of Luceni, Tauste, Pedrola, Remolinos and Alcalá de Ebro.
The intervention is summarized in the elimination of three defenses The existing two banks, two on the left and one on the right, narrow the channel and increase the water level during floods, diverting it towards urban areas. improvement of existing security perimeters of Alcalá de Ebro and Remolinos, through the elevation and reinforcement of roads and irrigation ditches around the perimeter of the urban areas. In addition, measures will be taken to improve the riparian vegetation in order to favor a restoration compatible with the fluvial dynamics.
Prior to this intervention, and since the extraordinary floods suffered in the middle stretch of the Ebro, several interventions have been carried out in these municipalities. In Alcalá de Ebro, the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro built a relief channel on the left bank of the river to divert flood waters and prevent them from passing through the urban area, and has reinforced the defensive dike of the urban area on several occasions. In Remolinos, a security perimeter was created on the northwest side of the urban area and two free temporary flooding areas were created in the orchard to reduce flood damage to the farms included in the perimeter. The actions included in the two projects submitted for public information complement and improve past interventions, so that the combined benefit of each of these actions is greater than that of each of them separately.
Performance section 9
The action designed for the Torres de Berrellén-Sobradiel Torres de Berrellén-Sobradiel section has an execution budget of 2,846,273 euros. The objective is to increase the level of protection of the urban areas of Torres de Berrellén and Sobradiel for floods with a return period of 25 years. In addition, the improvement in water flow that would be achieved would prevent flooding in 10-year return period floods of agricultural plots that are currently affected.
It will be carried out on 7.5 kilometers of riverbed and consists of the elimination of two sections of defenses located on the right bank of the Ebro and the burying of the irrigation channel in the Tambor ditch for an approximate length of 400 meters. These structures reduce the effective drainage section of the river, over-elevating flood water levels.
It also includes the implementation of safety perimeters in the urban areas of Torres de Berrellén and Sobradiel, through the construction of a perimeter dike on each of them, which will prevent water from reaching the urban area. In addition, measures will be taken to improve the riparian vegetation in order to favor a restoration compatible with the river dynamics.
Both in the town of Sobradiel and in Torres de Berrellén, interventions have been carried out by the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation to improve the protection of urban centers after the floods of 2015 and 2018. As in the previous case, the actions included in the two projects submitted for public information complement and improve past interventions, so that the combined benefit of each of these actions is greater than that of each of them separately.