He president of the Hydrographic Confederation of GuadianaSamuel Moraleda, discusses in this interview the controversial position of this basin regulatory body on the connection works between La Colada and Sierra Boyera, already assigned to the regional government or on the poor state of the waters of the first reservoir.
-Where is the authorization to complete the connection of La Colada with the Sierra Boyera already announced by the Andalusian Government?
-The Provincial Delegation of Cordoba has asked us for the appropriate water concession. This is a project that aims to use water and that is why the Provincial Council requested it. We are currently in the process of analyzing all the documentation we have, seeing the possible compatibility with the hydrological plan, analyzing the entire technical document and of course requesting the corresponding reports to resolve the concession. On November 13, we contacted the Provincial Council to correct a series of problems related to the volume of water requested and the documentation presented. We are in the process of processing the concession and it will be when this concession is resolved that the work concerned will be authorized.
-If everything goes as planned, when will the Andalusian Government be able to obtain authorization to undertake the La Colada connection works?
-The maximum time that the standard gives us to resolve a water concession is 18 months, obviously there are concessions that are resolved much earlier, all depending on public information, if there are allegations or sectoral reports. If everything goes well, it can be resolved in time. And until the concession is resolved, because one thing is linked to the other, the works are not authorized, after analysis of the documentation presented.
-A week ago you publicly expressed your doubts about the Council’s plan to complete the supply network. He did so in strong words and described as a “disaster” certain work which, according to him, overlapped in an extraordinary way with that which you had carried out. They weren’t necessary, he said. Do you maintain this thought?
– What was declared was a defense of the emergency work carried out by the basin body in a critical situation and in record time to connect and avoid lack of supply for 80,000 inhabitants, since shortly after, Sierra Boyera found itself without resources and thanks to this could solve the problem. The one who exploited this connection is the Provincial Council and has done so without problem. More than 7 million cubic meters of water were pumped. We must logically defend this work which is so useful to the territory.
“The regeneration of La Colada water involves better purification of urban waste and animal excrement”
-I repeat, do you think that what the Junta de Andalucía is going to undertake is necessary?
-I believe, and I transmitted it to the Secretary General of Water of the Council, that the work that we did, which I describe as robust because there was no problem, was sufficient for what was foreseen. Logically, the Secretary General for Water expresses his desire to strengthen supply and we are in this phase. But I insist, for the volumes in question, because we must take into account the volumes allocated by the hydrological planning of the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir, for these populations, we understood that these emergency works were sufficient and that they take the surface water, water of the highest quality.
– Months after starting this “robust” job, as he puts it, he was down to one generator and had to stop using it completely until it was repaired. In fact, the Provincial Council has long been asking to unlock the possibility of strengthening supply through Los Pelayos. Where is this problem?
-This is an urgent matter. At the time we made this temporary connection, we did not have time to lay out an electrical line and we opted for generators which are somewhat of the workhorse of this work due to their cost. The Provincial Delegation and the Government of Andalusia have proposed two alternatives in this regard. The Provincial Council has requested the power line from Los Pelayos and on the other hand, the Council is planning a new line of 3.5 kilometers from Endesa. There are two alternatives, and they will have to decide which one is ideal and who executes it. In the case of Los Pelayos, what the basin organization did, since the original line belonged to the State, the Los Pelayos company obtained a general concession to be able to supply electricity to La Colada and other uses. This concession was conditional on the signing of an agreement with the reservoir operator, Acuaes, an agreement which was never signed; and on the other hand, the project presented by the Provincial Delegation, Acuaes detected that the technical document of this Los Pelayos connection lacked solvency.
-The waters of La Colada bring with them the impossibility of having functioned normally until now…
-Mostly, it didn’t work because the connection didn’t exist, the resource is not used, because the job was stopped. Therefore, due to an emergency situation that arises, it is when the Secretary of State decrees the emergency and we carry out a perfectly defined provisional work with a preliminary draft from the Provincial Council itself with some small variations that we made.
“As long as the water concession is not resolved, because one thing is linked to another, the work is not authorized.”
-The Secretary of State for the Environment visited the northern area and requested that the Office undertake the connection of La Colada. So it seems that you all agree that this work needs to be done…
-The Secretary of State, who visited the works on several occasions, I believe is in the same line as the basin organization. It is a work that definitively solves the problem of connecting La Colada to Sierra Boyera. Operate with flow rates higher than those anticipated in hydrological planning.
-Swimming bans, total organic carbon,… The water of La Colada obviously needs a normal flow to be regenerated. How to achieve this?
-This is our goal, to achieve good status for all waters. The solution involves two aspects. On the one hand, specific discharges coming from certain industrial activities or from populations who must adapt their wastewater treatment plants or install new stations so that the discharges which reach La Colada do not alter the quality of the water. And then also the diffuse pollution which can come from livestock activity where the animal waste management systems will have to be improved so as not to harm, as has been done until now, the quality of the water which sometimes causes these swimming bans in El Visible because the indicators are not suitable. Unfortunately, the water quality is not good and we have to work on it.
The connection between Puente Nuevo and Sierra Boyera
-The emergency connection that you have made, do you now have to send the invoice to the Provincial Deputation of Córdoba?
-Indeed. Any action or infrastructure financed by the State through an amount such as the water use fee must be passed on to the beneficiaries, as provided for in water regulations and in compliance with the principle of recovery of costs. costs.
-Although it is the direct responsibility of the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation, but due to your knowledge and because La Colada also enters the fray, are you in favor of making the connection between Puente Nuevo and Sierra Boyera of which we have we talked so much in this critical drought situation that has been experienced?
-It is not for me to evaluate this execution. If it is carried out, it would have to be in the hydrological planning of the Guadalquivir and that does not suit me. It was up to us to urgently connect La Colada to Sierra Boyera and the other solution was ruled out. I don’t know the problem.
-I ask you another way. Do you think that existing resources are sufficient to supply the north of Córdoba?
-Yes, one hundred percent. Both the hydrological planning of the Guadiana and that of the Guadalquivir, which we study as part of the process of water allocation to the Provincial Council, guarantee one hundred percent supply.
