Urgell canal irrigators delay their long-awaited modernization

MollerussaThe Urgell canal modernization project, a colossal project estimated at one billion euros and with an implementation plan of approximately fifteen years, will have to wait a few more months for the final approval of the irrigators. Since the irrigation community presented the proposed financing agreement and the new technical and economic details of the comprehensive modernization of the irrigation system at its assembly on September 2, another series of community assemblies has followed, in which numerous irrigators have expressed their reluctance. Torregrossa, Fuliola, Térmens, Ivars de Urgell, Linyola, Miralcamp, Montgai… The meetings, some particularly tense, have highlighted the farmers' main concerns, such as the need for prior land consolidation, aid for farmers to prepare their farms, and a feared merger.

Given the distrust the project has generated in these (and other) areas, the general community of irrigators decided last week to modify the original schedule. The Casa Canal (Casa Canal) had initially planned to convene the general assembly at the end of October so that the 135 trustees (and representatives of the town councils and hydroelectric power stations) could vote on the project and approve the Generalitat's implementation and financing plan. However, the community's board, which met last Friday, ultimately decided to postpone the deadline until December 21. "The delay is a response to the desire to offer irrigators more time so they can inform themselves and carefully assess the proposal," explains the community's general director, Xavier Díaz.

"We've been talking about this modernization project for more than twenty years; now it's not just a few more months to get things right," says Jaume Perera, president of the 13 community and spokesperson for the Manifest del Gran Urgell group, who is particularly critical of the process. "It seems there was a political interest in starting the works next year, but we need a decent and sincere proposal," adds Perera.

The main obstacles holding the irrigators back from approving the modernization are threefold. Critics assert that nothing needs to be said about the technical project and the costs of the main works. But it is precisely where the official proposal seems to omit where the doubts lie.

One is land consolidation. We're talking about a traditional and highly fragmented irrigation system of almost 50,000 plots. The topography of the Urgell Canal, with this fragmentation and the presence of numerous buildings, farms, and wooded areas, makes it extremely difficult to create large irrigated farms. The Catalan government insists on the need to promote voluntary land consolidation, which is much faster than conventional land consolidation, but which some irrigators consider unviable. In any case, land consolidation is essential to ensure that the plots ultimately become competitive.

Ignasi Servià, secretary of the water commission of the Catalan Association of Agricultural Engineers, regrets that the government has not planned for the land consolidation process before implementing the project. "How do we want to modernize sooner?" asks Servià, truly annoyed. In his opinion, modernization is already overdue. Consolidating plots is a process that takes years (in the case of the Segarra-Garrigues canal, it took up to a decade in some communities), but it's essential to move forward. "It seems that many are already forgetting about the 2023 drought," laments the engineer, who criticizes the lack of speed in the process. "We have to start moving forward, otherwise, we'll still see an Urgell canal with dryland crops," the agricultural engineer laments.

Claim for aid

The goal of the modernization project is to move from the current flood irrigation system, which still accounts for nearly 90% of the area, to a pressurized on-demand system with buried pipelines, 44 regulation reservoirs (7.8 cubic hectometres), 20 pumping stations, and 20 photovoltaic plants, plus more than 4 hydrants. All this will achieve significant water and energy savings, which, according to the project's environmental impact study (still on public display until October 3), could amount to approximately 100 cubic hectometres per year. It also aims to increase agricultural productivity and make irrigation more resilient to droughts like the one the community suffered in 2023, which forced the canal to close a month after the start of the campaign.

The distribution network budget amounts to 991.2 million euros, and the financing model presented establishes that part of the infrastructure is considered to be of general interest, given that it generates a direct benefit to other users in the area. The Department of Agriculture would assume the entire cost. Of the remaining budget, the department and the ministry would contribute 70% equally, and irrigators would contribute the remaining 30% (approximately 210 million euros). In short, irrigators will have to pay 2,311 euros per hectare and modernize their property within a maximum of five years.

But apart from the main network, each farmer will also have to take care of the interior furnishings of their properties, that is, all the necessary equipment, starting with the hydrant and the pipes that reach each private property. An investment that must come exclusively from the pockets of irrigators (with exclusive aid for professional farmers) and amounts to a total of 400 million euros more. It is on this last point that many small, non-professional farmers (75% of the total, according to the Great Urgell Manifesto) are dissatisfied. If they cannot access the aid, they warn that the profitability of their farms will be zero for several years, and for many of them, who are advanced in age and insignificant, it seems like a pointless investment. Xavier Díaz assures that Casa Canal is negotiating with several banks to secure financing agreements that improve the conditions for these irrigators.

Several farmers who have attended the recent community meetings have expressed reluctance to access thirty-year loans to pay for this renovation, and some suggest that if the Casa Canal were to pay for the operation and then charge them a bill (as it does with water), it would be more viable.

"The problem with all this is that at the time, they sold a modernization plan for too little," comments Ignasi Servià.

Another proposal that generates the most suspicion among irrigators is the sharing of unused infrastructure belonging to the Generalitat (Catalan Government), such as the Segarra-Garrigues canal. The objective is to save on the construction of reservoirs and pumping stations, guaranteeing coverage of the system of both canals with the Urgell canal assuming part of the amortization of investments in the Segarra-Garrigues and the payment of a maintenance and operating fee. But sharing has a possible (and feared) downside: the merger of both communities. Article 81 of the state water law states that "communities of surface or groundwater users, whose use affects common interests, may form a general community" and "the river basin authority may impose, when the general interest so requires, the formation of different types of communities and central user boards." The Urgell irrigators do not welcome a merger "with privatized and underutilized irrigation and prohibitive water prices," as some voices denounce.

The final vote

Final approval of the modernization project on December 21 will require the votes of trustees representing at least two-thirds of all the hectares present at the vote. The board has established that the modernization project is sufficiently significant to not require approval simply by an absolute majority (half plus one of the votes), as dictated by the ordinances for regular voting. Furthermore, many are calling for the vote at the assembly to be open (and not secret, as the ordinances require), to verify whether the trustees ultimately vote as previously agreed upon with their community. Sources at Casa Canal suggest that a vote by show of hands is very likely.

Organizations such as the Manifiesto del Gran Urgell are calling for the project's approval to have the broadest possible support before moving forward. "If we don't reach a significant consensus and it ends up being approved by the skin of our teeth, we'll end up encountering many more obstacles along the way," warns Jaume Perera.