At the beginning of 2023, the Hydrological Plan of the Ebro River Basin District, a river of 928 km in length, with a catchment area of almost 85,500 km2, was approved. This plan includes for the first time the so-called “Strategy for integrated sediment management in the Ebro river basin district”.
This strategy has several blocks of actions to be carried out by various institutions, including the Directorate General for Water of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation itself.
Among the actions related to the recovery of sediment mobilisation are:
- Improvement of knowledge, mainly focused on the characterisation of the sediments accumulated in the reservoirs of the lower stretch of the Ebro and already mostly executed.
- Design and execution of pilot extraction tests in the Ribarroja reservoir and implementation of controlled floods to assess the possibilities of sediment mobilisation towards the coast and propose future actions. The first pilot dredging test began on 14 November 2023. These tests will determine which methodology can be most effective and efficient in removing and mobilising retained sediments downstream.
- Creation of a hydrological observatory of the Ebro delta, improving the existing instrumentation and monitoring the possible movement of the deltaic platform. High-precision topographic levelling has recently been carried out in the interior of the delta for this purpose.
In addition to this, the Directorate General for the Coast and the Sea is carrying out a series of actions in the Ebro delta. Inspired by nature-based solutions, these include a new demarcation of the maritime-terrestrial public domain, the creation of protection strips that allow the free movement of the coast or the transfer of sand between coastal areas in the delta itself.
The rise in sea level due to climate change may have serious effects on the Ebro delta in the near future, which requires a coordinated effort from the river and the coast to protect it.
María Dolores PASCUAL VALLÉS,
Présidente de la Confédération hydrographique de l’Èbre
Novembre 2023