By Andrew Atkinson
Despite the CHS investing €537,000 in improving the drainage of the old Segura riverbed in Guardamar, criticism continues to be flagged-up.
Amid the DANA/Gota Fria in 2019 the Confederation stated it had undertaken eleven cleanings of plastics and containers.
It also stated the undertaking of a clearing – in the final section of the Segura – with an investment of €114,000. However, ASAJA Alicante has said the state of this final stretch of the river is ‘clogged-up’ with an invasive cane.
ASAJA are requesting the cleaning of all invasive reeds, plant remains and mud, from the old channel at the mouth of the Segura river in Guardamar.
The Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS) has undertaken works carried out in improving the drainage capacity of the old channel of the Segura river in Guardamar del Segura, after the DANA of September 2019.
President of the basin entity, Mario Urrea said: “Work has been carried out for the conservation and maintenance of the river, particularly in the area of the mouth”.
The CHS said the old channel of the Segura river, located in the area of the mouth in the municipality of Guardamar, functions as a free sheet channel – that collects water from the irrigation returns – from the traditional garden through different channels.
The channel has two connections with the main channel of the river – new channel – with gates that are usually closed, that serve to facilitate drainage in the event of extraordinary floods.
The infrastructures were built after the DANA of 2019, with the avenue of the new channel in the sea working as a stopper for the old one, located at a lower level, causing the flooding of large areas of orchards in Guardamar, San Fulgencio and las Dayas.
The CHS undertook works to connect both channels with a project aimed at preventing the floods from continuing to rise.
