Spain and Portugal set the flow rates to ensure the good condition of the Guadiana estuary. Spain and Portugal have committed, in the XXV plenary meeting of the Commission for the Application and Development of the Albufeira Convention (CADC) held in Madrid, to agree on a monthly flow regime in the final stretch of the Guadianain the section Orchard; an important step that allows the culmination of the agreement after years of negotiations.
The priority of this flow regime is to ensure the good condition of the Guadiana estuary and equitably distribute the flows available for the socioeconomic uses of Spain and Portugal. This fixation carries with it the respective recognition of the taking of Pomarão and Bocachanza.
The agreement will be ratified in the XXXV Spanish-Portuguese summit to be held on October 23 in Portugal. Previously, the Vice President of the Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, and the Portuguese Minister of Environment and Energy, María da Graça, have reaffirmed these advances in a bilateral meeting that they held this Friday at the Palace Real de Aranjuez, within the framework of the commemorative event of the 25th anniversary of the Albufeira Convention.
25th anniversary of the Albufeira Convention
In the subsequent press conference, Vice President Ribera pointed out the importance of the principle of agreement reached. “It is a very good agreement that has been possible thanks to these 25 years of shared work, trust, and permanent dialogue between technicians, which has facilitated the identification in a much more precise way of what the aspects of shared management are. in which we still need more precision, including information, monitoring, and, of course, shared management regarding infrastructure and the equivalent cost of these between the two countries,” he noted.
Furthermore, at the CADC plenary meeting, Spain and Portugal have agreed to advance the commitment to establish a daily flow from the Cedillo dam to maintain the circulating flows of the Tagus River and have reached an agreement for the progressive regularization of the historical uses of the Guadiana River, in the section between the Caya and Cuncos rivers.
At the meeting, it was also possible to put the exchange of hydrological data for flood management into full operation. This protocol has been implemented in the four shared hydrographic districts and both parties send and receive the indicated data in real time, which improves coordination in the event of extreme weather phenomena.
Likewise, the parts of the commission have approved the updating and improvement of the Web page about him Albufeira Convention which collects all the information: texts, photographs, downloadable plans and reference tables. The aim is to make a more attractive website for the dissemination of the work within the commission and improve transparency.