The Segura Hydrographic Confederation receives the European Riverprize from the International RiverFoundationin Vienna. The panel of judges has especially valued that the Segura recovery project was based on the "integrated management of all sources and demands of water."
The recovery of the Segura river has been raised in Vienna with the European Riverprize 2015, the main international award in the sector, awarded by the Australian foundation International RiverFoundation. The international panel of judges has especially valued that the restoration project was based on the “integrated management of all the resources and water demands of the Segura basin”. The other two finalist projects were the Aragon River in Navarra and the Trent River in England. The Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS), a body under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, has collected the award although it is a multidisciplinary work carried out by various administrations, from the Ministry and the CHS to the regional government of Murcia and several municipalities. The ceremony took place at the Vienna City Hall.
The president of the CHS, Miguel Ángel Ródenas, speaks during the European Riverprize gala at the Vienna City Hall building
The Segura recovery project is a comprehensive water regeneration program, which allowed the river to restore the quality of its water and reuse resources for agricultural uses. In essence, he managed to convert, with a work of 15 years - from the end of the last century to the present -, an open-air sewer in the least polluted river in Spain. As a consequence of this improvement in the quality of the waters, the ecosystems linked to the river have also benefited, with which species that had suffered heavily from contamination such as the otter or the eel have returned to inhabit the channel. Likewise, the wetlands of Campotéjar and Las Moreras, dependent on treatment plants, have been included in the Ramsar Convention due to their importance for the migration of birds, some of which, such as the white-headed duck or the gray teal, are in danger of extinction.
The European Riverprize panel of judges has also taken into account that the Segura recovery project has been carried out under conditions of extreme water scarcity, since the Segura basin is the driest of the river basin districts in the Continental europe. In addition, it has valued compliance with the European Water Directive and the benefits it has brought both for the local population and for the environment.
Now the project for the recovery of the river Segura has access to the international final of the International River Foundation awards, to be eligible for the Thiess International Prize (to which projects from all over the world are presented). In addition, both winners and finalists become part of an international club of collaborators that advises poor or developing countries to apply the improvements achieved in their own rivers. Thus, the experience of environmental restoration of the Segura River may also benefit other areas of the world with similar problems of pollution and lack of water.
CHS Water Commissioner, José Carlos González, CHS President Miguel Ángel Ródenas, Hans Sailer (IAWD President), and Martin Albrecht (Chairman of the International River Foundation)
The European Riverprize award is organized by the International RiverFoundation and by the International Association of Water Supply Companies of the Danube River Catchmen Area, within the framework of the European River Symposium sponsored by IRF, International Association of Water Supply Companies of the Danube River Catchmen Area, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Global Water Partnership, International Network of Basin Organizations, International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River, Ramsar (Conventions of Wetlands of International Importance), Viadonau, Coca-Cola Europe, Ramsar, Wetlands International, European Center for River Restoration and the city of Vienna.
