One of the keys to flooding caused by DANA In Valence is the nullity of the execution of the work on the Poyo Ravine this would have made it possible to divert the torrent of water towards the bed of the Turia river. In this way, as the project indicated, the “high risk of flooding» on the municipalities crossed by the current route. He Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of Therese Ribera diverted the greenway project to increase its “environmental adequacy” by including a cycle path and a pedestrian path this made their budget more expensive. Ultimately, no work was carried out and the 35 million needed to undertake it was spent on advertising. From now on, the cost of repairing the damage will amount to 31 million.
On October 29, after 7 p.m., the flooding caused by DANA on the Poyo ravine triggered its flow to almost 3,000 cubic meters per second. A crazy figure that even exceeds the flow of the river Niletransforming the Poyo into an immense mass of water which quickly devastated a dozen municipalities and caused more than 200 deaths. If the proposed Poyo Ravine project works had been carried out on time, when the water mass reached Cattle prod would have been diverted along a greenway of just over two kilometers towards the new river bed. river Turia. An infrastructure that could have withstood this flood, protecting localities like Paiporta, Catarroja, Bentuser, Alfafar, Sedaví or Massanasa. Ground zero of the flood.
This work was not done to “lack of budgetary availability”, as contained in a presentation that the technicians of the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar made in the presence of the Secretary of State Hugo Morannumber 2 of Ribera. But the project, prepared and kept in a drawer, considered a series of “alternatives” to the initial plan, consisting of a concrete road that would channel the water. On the other hand, the ministry has promoted a series of accessories which contribute nothing to the priority objective of infrastructure, but have underlined the “environmental” character of the investment.
The document, consulted by OKDIARIO, proposed as “alternative» to this “greenway” works “environmental adaptation” of the Poyo ravine for the “territorial integration» of the project. In short, a service path was planned, a cycle path and a pedestrian path who was running over the ravine.
The project would have a spillway and weir to divert water to the new canal, in an area that passes through rural land and where expropriations have been minimal. It was also plannedbuild three bridges all the way to Turia. However, the project failed to meet the final cost-benefit assessment, while the first, which was successful, was never executed.
Fines for cleaning
THE Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar defends the presence of reeds and vegetation in boulevards and ravines as a natural way to stop flooding. A statement that contrasts with the images seen on October 29 tons of canes which had not been removed, washed away by floods and causing blockages on bridges. Given this, there are already several municipalities –Elchefor example – who decided to withdraw unilaterally the vegetation at the edge of its ravines and watercourses. They denounce that on numerous occasions, the Confederation does not respond to their requests for authorization. And by acting unilaterally, they risk administrative fines of up to 300,000 euros.
THE DANA and the resulting tragic floods accelerated the cleaning of the ravines and boulevards of the Valencian Community. But this was not on the part of the Hydrographic Conference, which is responsible for it, but on the part of the municipalities which were not affected but which took careful note of what could happen if their watercourses are not properly maintained. Municipal councils like Alicante either Elche They have already gotten to work. The man from Elche even without waiting for permits “faced with countless emails and calls to the Ministry and the CHJ» which did not receive a response.
These municipalities and others that are considering doing so, as OKDIARIO has learned from autonomous Valencian sources, have made the decision even knowing that the CHJ is considering high fines for those who carry out these tasks without their green light. An authorization that lasts forever with bureaucratic procedures, analyzes and environmental assessments of the impact on flora and fauna of these actions. “Neglect», they say from Elche.
As the Confederation itself reflects in the legislation mentioned on its website, minor and less serious administrative offenses will be considered “actions or omissions causing damage to property in the public hydraulic domainprovided that the valuation of these does not exceed 15,000,000 euros. From there, all sanctions depend on the CHJ, from there they correspond directly to the Council of Ministers.
The sanctions regime ranges from 6,000 to 300,000 euroseven if some municipalities are already carrying out cleaning despite their exposure to these fines.
Just under the bridges
The Valencian municipalities through which the geographical demarcation of the Poyo ravine passes can only clean the vegetation that accumulates in the channel under the bridges. At most, a radius of barely 20 meters from each footbridge. This is the only case in which the municipalities in the area concerned by DANA can act, at the cost of permit requests which do not arrive. This area is just 600 meters of total of something more than 11 kilometers of ravine which crosses an urban area, ground zero of the tragedy of October 29.
Between Torrent and the Catarroja industrial zonethe Poyo ravine crosses a dozen communes. A residential area where tens of thousands of Valencians reside, the most affected by the overflow of this urban section of just over 11 kilometers long, where the channel narrows considerably. Cleaning this channel to remove vegetation, reeds and any other obstacle that could obstruct the flow of water during the flow of a torrent is work of municipal councils, but they cannot do it without the authorization of the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar.
Throughout this section there are a total of fifteen bridges and walkways. Crucial information in this matter, since the Confederation’s regulations only grant the power to clean the immediate surroundings of these bridges without a permit. Below them already a radius of 20 meters. The rest, don’t even touch it without authorizations which do not arrive and which, sometimes, are even refused.
In total, the sum of 20 meters for each of the bridges of the Poyo route reaches 600 metersjust one 5% of the Poyo River bed it is in this section that the tragedy was born.
