María river restoration project. Municipality of María (Almería)

The María river has its source in the northeastern slopes of the María range and is part of the headwaters of the Caramel river, which is a tributary at the upper section of the Guadalentín river. The section subject to restoration begins in the town of María, at the “Fuente del Hoyo” and ends downstream from the municipal sewage treatment plant, for a length of a little over 1.3 km.

In order to achieve the goals of the National River Restoration Strategy, the María river restoration project aims at improving its ecological condition, modified at its initial stretch by the irrigation pool and the existing network of irrigation ditches, by rigidization in certain sections, particularly a piped stretch and walls on certain banks causing disconnection from the watercourse and the great discontinuity of the banks vegetation all along the section under restoration, which has been reduced to only a few forested spots.