- A European project, called Poctep Risc Plus, is promoting actions that will increase the number of control points in the Miños, Sil and Limia river basins.
According to a press release from the Miño-Sil Hydrographic Confederation (CHMS), the automatic hydrological information system (SAIH) currently has 116 control points in the Miño-Sil district, which will increase to 124 by the end of the project.
Similarly, the automatic water quality information system (Saica), which has 18 stations, will be increased to a total of 20 once this work is completed.
This initiative is focused on strengthening the resilience of the Miño and Limia transboundary basins in the face of climate change, with an improvement in automatic hydrological information and water quality systems, drought analysis and flood forecasting.
To date, the work has been completed and the stations located on the Narla River in Friol (Lugo), the Quiroga River in Quiroga (Lugo) and the Tamuxe River in O Rosal (Pontevedra) are in operation. In addition, two more stations are at an advanced stage of construction, with the civil works practically finished, located on the Sil river, in Toreno (León), as well as on the Lobios river, in Lobios (Ourense).
For their part, the Portuguese partners are carrying out administrative work to complete the surveillance network in their territory, guaranteeing a coordinated and cross-border approach.
‘It is important to remember that through the SAIH stations, information is obtained from our watercourses in real time, based on the capture, transmission and processing of the values adopted by the most significant hydrometeorological and hydraulic variables; the sensors at these control points are located in very specific geographical locations and studied in order to obtain precise data to aid decision-making,’ explained the president of the CHMS, José Antonio Quiroga.
The project is also making progress in the development of a joint drought contingency plan, which is compiling key data and using weather forecasts to create protocols to diagnose and manage scenarios of prolonged drought and cyclical shortages.
Risc Plus began in July 2023 and is scheduled for completion in June 2026, with a budget of 1.6 million euros, of which more than 50% has been executed to date.
