• The Miño-Sil River Basin Authority, the Portuguese Environment Agency and the universities of Vigo and Oporto met in Ourense to review the progress of the project and coordinate the next steps.
• During the meeting, they discussed hydrological monitoring work, including the completion of the new SAIH station at Os Peares, as well as studies on droughts, floods and climate change.

The partners in the European RISC_PLUS project held the 27th meeting of the Joint Working Group in Ourense, with the aim of reviewing the progress of the planned activities and coordinating the work to be carried out over the coming months.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Miño-Sil River Basin Authority (CHMS), the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), the University of Vigo (UVIGO) and the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto (FEUP), all of which form part of the project partnership.

With regard to hydrological monitoring activities, the Miño-Sil River Basin Authority reported on the progress of the monitoring stations planned for the Spanish part of the river basin district, where work has been completed on 10 of the 11 stations included in the project.

Among the issues discussed was the completion of work on the new Automatic Hydrological Information System (SAIH) station at Os Peares, situated on the River Búbal in the province of Ourense. The situation regarding the Automatic Water Quality Information System (SAICA) station planned for the River Arnoia in Allariz was also reviewed.

For its part, the Portuguese Environment Agency presented a report on the status of the seven monitoring stations installed in Portugal, comprising two hydrometric stations and five meteorological monitoring stations, which were commissioned in 2025.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to review work relating to drought analysis. In this regard, the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto presented studies on the development of indicators to assess drought risk and analyse its potential evolution under different climate scenarios.

With regard to flooding, the partners discussed the progress of work on hydrological modelling and the development of forecasting and warning systems, as well as the technical coordination required to integrate the results of the various studies.

Furthermore, the University of Vigo presented work relating to the analysis of the effects of climate change on certain socio-economic activities in the region. These include studies on the influence of meteorological variables on the yield of potatoes in A Limia and of vineyards in the Ribeiro and Ribeira Sacra designations of origin.

This project, co-funded by the European Interreg Spain–Portugal (POCTEP) programme 2021–2027, is committed to solutions based on scientific knowledge, cross-border cooperation and technological innovation, to ensure efficient and sustainable water management in a context marked by climate change.