The Ebro Hydrographic Confederation (in Spanish: Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro, the CHE) is the organization that manages, regulates and maintains the water and irrigation of the Ebro hydrographic basin (northeastern Spain). The organization's headquarters are in Zaragoza and it was the first institution created in the world with the objective of managing an entire river basin in a unitary manner.
History
In 1913, the First National Irrigation Congress was held in Zaragoza, exposing the idea of setting up a community group of an economic and supra-regional nature through the federation of the agricultural, commercial and industrial associations of the whole area subject to the influence of the Ebro.
In 1926, during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the Confederaciones Hidrográficas were created under the name of Confederaciones Sindicales Hidrográficas. Article 1 of the founding Royal Decree states that:In all the hydrographic basins in which the Administration declares it convenient or in which at least 70% of its agricultural and industrial wealth, affected by the use of its flowing waters, requests it, the Confederación Sindical Hidrográfica will be formed.The Confederación Sindical Hidrográfica del Ebro was the first to be set up, by Royal Decree of March 5, 1926, and its first Technical Director was the engineer Manuel Lorenzo Pardo, a follower of the ideas of Joaquín Costa, the great instigator of its founding.
In 1931, the government of the Republic restructured the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation, renaming it the Mancomunidad Hidrográfica del Ebro (Ebro Hydrographic Commonwealth). Manuel Lorenzo Pardo was dismissed and replaced by Félix de los Ríos. In March 1936 he was replaced by Nicolás Liria Almor. In 1932 the Mancomunidad Hidrográfica del Ebro was renamed as Delegación de Servicios Hidráulicos del Ebro and in 1934 it was again renamed Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro.
General information
Nowadays, the CHE is an autonomous agency under the Ministry of Ecological Transition. The functions of this agency are regulated in Article 25 of Royal Decree 927/1988, which approves the Regulations of the Public Administration of Water and Hydrological Planning.
These functions are the following:
The preparation of the basin hydrological plan, as well as its monitoring and revision. The administration and control of the hydraulic public domain. The administration and control of uses of general interest or affecting more than one Autonomous Community. The project, construction and operation of the works carried out with charge to the own funds of the Agency, and those that are entrusted to them by the State. Those deriving from agreements with Autonomous Communities, local corporations and other public or private entities, or from those signed with individuals.
The Ebro Confederation is also responsible for economic and ecological problems, such as zebra mussels and other introduced animal and plant species, and for providing users with information on the measures that can be taken in the use of boats, contained in the navigation regulations. It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of the Environment. The functions of this agency are regulated in article 25 of Royal Decree 927/1988, which approves the Regulations of the Public Administration of Water and Hydrological Planning.
Scope
The Ebro river basin is located in the NE quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula and covers a total surface area of 85,362 km2, of which 445 km2 are in Andorra, 502 km2 in France and the rest in Spain. It is the largest river basin in Spain, representing 17.3% of the Spanish peninsular territory. Its natural limits are: to the north the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees, to the southeast the Iberian System and to the east the Coastal-Catalan chain.