Fears that Spain's Rio Seco river could dry up

AGRICULTURAL growers will soon receive recycled water that until now was discharged into the River Seco.
They have been asking for this water since the San Juan treatment plant opened in 2011 but a pipeline linking it to the Pantanet irrigation deposit in Muchamiel was omitted from the original plans.
The regional government’s Agriculture and Environment department has now put construction of a €1.6 million pipeline out to tender, prompting Campello town hall to ask the Institute of Coastal Ecology for help.
San Juan and Muchamiel growers consider that the San Juan water has been wasted for the last seven years but Campello town hall points out that this water has transformed the lower reaches of River Seco.
Campello’s Environment department is asking the Institute to assess how much water is needed to prevent the river and its banks from reverting to their former arid state.
It will also approach the Confederacion Hidrografica del Jucar, which controls the area’s waterways and rivers, asking for an environmental flow to maintain the existing ecosystem.
Although the treatment plant functions at half-capacity, approximately 5 million litres of water flow down the lower section of the Rio Seco to the sea each day.
Previously as dry as its name, the river now supports wildlife and 47 species of birds and Campello town hall wants assurance that there will be enough water to ensure that they are not affected once the pipeline is built.