Vega Baja: €13.7m for channels to fight flooding

The Generalitat is putting €13.71 million into repairing and enlarging 11 irrigation channels in the Vega Baja. The aim is to drain water from the fields faster during heavy rain and keep it away from nearby villages.

Today, 5 November, the Valencian minister for agriculture and water, Miguel Barrachina, announced the third phase of repairs to the Vega Baja irrigation network, worth €13.71 million. The work covers 11 acequias and azarbes — the old channels that bring water to the fields and carry it away. According to the Generalitat, this phase completes a plan to increase the channels’ capacity and protect the area from flooding.

📍 Where the work will be

The work will be on channels run by five water bodies: the Juzgado Privativo de Aguas de Orihuela, the Sindicato General de Aguas de San Fulgencio, the water court of Callosa de Segura, the Comunidad de Regantes de Catral and the Juzgado de Aguas de Alfeitamí in Almoradí. According to the newspaper Información, it covers 25 kilometres of channels and around 50,000 hectares of land.

📍 What it means for residents

The Vega Baja is low-lying land around the river Segura, and in every DANA the water looks for somewhere to go. If the channels are blocked or broken, it sits on the fields and creeps towards houses. The Generalitat says that after the repairs the channels will carry water away faster in heavy rain, protecting fields, roads and nearby villages. According to Información, Orihuela’s water judge José Bernabé thanked the regional government but said the help came late: some aqueducts have been damaged since the 2019 DANA.

📍 When work starts

The project has already received a favourable technical report. The work will be assigned to the state company Tragsa, which the Generalitat expects to formalise by the end of 2026. No start date for the work itself has been given. Barrachina also inspected the new crossing on the Alquibla channel, which cost €958,348 and is part of a separate €4.7 million project for San Fulgencio, Crevillent, Catral and Orihuela.

📍 And water for the fields

At the same meeting the minister spoke about the Tajo–Segura transfer. In his words, because already-approved water is not reaching the province, Alicante’s farming could lose more than €80 million, with around 1,750 jobs at risk. For Orihuela this is not abstract: according to the Generalitat, six out of ten litres of irrigation water on its water court’s land come through the transfer.