Valencia, Jan 20 (EFE) plans of each hydrographic confederation and a “relevant condition” to the Tagus-Segura transfer.
This is indicated by the opinion of the Council of State on that royal decree, to which EFE has had access, which reflects that it is “essential” to coordinate the content of the hydrological plans of the source and recipient basins “to guarantee their coherence, that is, that both reflect the same reality”, and that their forecasts respect the specific regulations of that transfer.
This coordination work, the document adds, should be carried out at least during the approval phase of the draft plans prepared by the basin organizations and, in principle, would correspond to the National Water Council, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Ultimately, the government.
EL TAJO-SEGURA, CENTER OF THE DEBATE
The opinion admits that the greatest debate on the project has arisen on the need for coordination of the hydrological plans related to the transfer of the Tagus to the Segura, since “the dispersion that characterizes it, the result of the successive approval of regulatory provisions”, makes it difficult to determine the applicable legal regime.
In its conclusion, the Council of State indicates that, once the observations of the opinion have been considered, especially the one referring to the coordination of the hydrological plans related to the Tajo-Segura transfer, the project can be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval. of royal decree submitted to consultation.
THE CONTROVERSIAL NATIONAL WATER COUNCIL
Likewise, the opinion considers that the debate and the vote in the last and controversial meeting of the National Water Council did not take place with due “clarity and transparency”, since there was some confusion as to whether the text of the ninth additional provision that was voted on was the original or the one proposed in voce by the Secretary of State for the Environment.
In the opinion of the Council of State, it would have been desirable for the vote in the National Water Council to have taken place on a “clear and specific” proposal for the text, preferably in writing and especially in relation to an aspect as relevant as the treaty in the ninth additional provision, which affects several basins and from which notable socioeconomic and environmental effects derive.
As he considers, the ninth additional provision constitutes “an attempt to coordinate” the forecasts of the hydrological plans of the transferring and receiving basins of the transfer, but in the wording brought to this Council its “practical virtue” will be “limited, because it chooses to postpone such coordination to a later moment in time.
In addition, unlike the initial text, “it does not rigorously and precisely define the meaning and scope of the monitoring programs”.
A NECESSARY AND EFFECTIVE HYDROLOGICAL COORDINATION
The Council of State insists on the need to “arbitrate an effective mechanism” for the coordination of the hydrological plans of the Tagus and Segura basins, among themselves and in relation to the regulations governing the transfer, coordination that ultimately corresponds to the Government of the nation based on the general interest.
In his opinion, the satisfaction of the general interest demands that the complete and binding ecological flow regime, which the Tagus plan must necessarily establish, be made compatible with an element of national hydrological planning such as that of the Tagus-Segura transfer.
This function, he adds, was the one that the previous version of the ninth additional provision was intended to fulfill, but in the current wording said provision “lacks sufficient functionality to carry out said coordination and to honor the necessary requirements of having ecological flows in the plan of the Tagus with the operation of the transfer».
In the absence of such coordination, alert, a consequence may occur that does not respond to the will of the legislator, which up to now has maintained the transfer “without prejudice to the undisputed priority of the ceding basin and the legal provisions that call for the revision of the transferable volume”.
In his opinion, for the coordination between these plans and the regulations that regulate the transfer, the origin of establishing technical criteria and more detailed methodologies for the determination of ecological flows should be considered, establishing common criteria for all river basin districts through regulations.
Based on these aspects of the opinion, the Valencian Government considers that the Council of State endorses its theses on the transfer and calls on the central Government to take them into account.