Murcia announces a plan of 28.5 million for the energy efficiency of irrigation
López Miras, during his speech at the Future in Spanish conference. /
Future in Spanish
of irrigationThe president vindicates the water management model and defends the Transfer at the expert conference organized by CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and the newspaper La Verdad
The Region of Murcia highlighted its comprehensive water management model and its commitment to the circular economy on the second day of the Future in Spanish forum that yesterday brought together experts from the Region and several Latin American countries on water resources . In the opening speech, the president of the Community, Fernando López Miras, announced a new aid package for energy efficiency and sustainability in irrigation communities. The fifth edition of Futuro en Español was held in a context of maximum expectation for the basin plans, in particular that of the Tagus, which may cause a cut in the Transfer. In this sense, López Miras took advantage of the day to claim this infrastructure.
In the forum organized by the newspaper La Verdad and CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, the president explained that the aid package plans to allocate more than 28.5 million euros to the agricultural sector, in a call to be published next week. . Its financing is provided by the European 'Next Generation' funds. An initiative to support the agricultural sector that has its raison d'être in the high value of the Murcian countryside, "which has been the land that has been most developed in terms of water management," he said,
He indicated that with this initiative a new bet is proposed, through eight lines of aid that seek the regional primary sector to achieve a new leap in quality. The largest amounts are those aimed at improving energy efficiency and the generation of renewables in irrigation communities (10.9 million); those that will allow the modernization of greenhouses (9.9 million); that aimed at applying precision agriculture and 4.0 technologies (3.3 million); aid for the improvement of supply networks and reduction of water losses in small municipalities (2.1 million) and aid for manure management in livestock (1.4 million).
The director of La Verdad, Alberto Aguirre de Cárcer, welcomed the many attendees gathered at the Artillery Barracks in Murcia, to whom he reminded them of the region's historic commitment to efficient water management, which dates back to Muslim times . He also echoed the current "concern" about water scarcity, and with it the importance of "good management" of resources and "their rational use."
Conflict with the Tagus
The president of the Community made a defense of the Tajo-Segura Transfer, precisely at this moment in which said infrastructure is at stake. He did so after claiming that "we have been the land that has been most developed in water management, fruit and vegetable production and export". He highlighted "the continuous modernization of irrigation techniques", with processes that "are admired and taken as a reference throughout the world." He cited both the comprehensive water cycle management system "based on guaranteeing its availability and quality," as well as the achievements "in water purification and reuse." There emerges the role of the park of 99 treatment plants that serve 99.3% of the population.
"We are a benchmark in reuse, as evidenced by the fact that 99% of wastewater is purified"
FERNANDO LOPEZ LOOKS
President of the Community of Murcia
From this strategy of efficiency and use, the defense made by the Community of the aqueduct is based on what it means for the development of the Region and the entire Spanish Levant in the face of the economic impact it represents. He assured that his government will be "opposite those who are now determined to close the Diversion, with the catastrophic consequences that it would have from a social, economic and environmental point of view." "All the basin plans in Spain have been made more flexible, but not that of the Tagus," denounced López Miras, who pointed out that "the unaffordable cuts proposed by the Ministry to reduce the transferable flow are based on partial studies that do not respond to scientific criteria nor technical.
Faced with this situation, López Miras recalled that he had sent a letter to Minister Teresa Ribera, as he did recently to the President of the Government himself, "in which I ask for a thorough review of the ecological flows by a central public body that once again determines the figures”.
Scrats Assembly
The president of the Central Irrigation Union of the Transfer (Scrats), Lucas Jiménez, stated on this subject in his appearance, in one of the debate tables, that "we have a plan for the Segura basin that does not agree with that of the Tagus", so "I don't know how it's going to be resolved, but there is a contradiction." He did not want to advance anything about possible mobilizations until they see their final approval, and said that they will convene an assembly to analyze the steps to follow.
The 5th Future Forum in Spanish, organized by La Verdad, Vocento and CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, is sponsored by the Murcia City Council, Aguas de Murcia, the Central Irrigation Union of the Tajo-Segura Aqueduct, the regional government, Esamur, Cajamar, Agritech Murcia and the National Technological Center for Preserving and Food.
Ignacio Corlazzoli, General Manager of CAF-Development Bank of Latin America in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. /
Corlazzoli: «There is an opportunity to associate with the Region of Murcia»
The general manager of CAF-Development Bank of Latin America in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Ignacio Corlazzoli, highlighted in his opening speech the conference on water management, the circular economy and sustainable production –always with the language Spanish as a common link – that there is a fundamental challenge in the field of "green growth and climate change". And from there what his entity seeks "is to go further", in order "to be able to associate with partners such as the Region of Murcia, from which we can draw lessons for ourselves," he stressed.
At the beginning of his speech, this executive, a Law graduate from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), who has a long and successful professional career at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), as well as a consultant in operations in different countries , stressed the importance of "governance" of water, to which this Community has much to contribute. Therefore, in his opinion, "at this time there is an opportunity for there to be a greater rapprochement with the Region of Murcia."
