The Flood Risk Management Plan for the Miño-Sil River Basin Demarcation is out for public consultation

• The Plan includes a programme of measures worth 55 million euros.
• 68 sections of Areas at Significant Risk of Flooding (ARPSI) have been identified, organised into 26 groupings, with a length of 597.42 kilometres.
• The draft PGRI will be open to public information for 3 months for allegations, observations or suggestions.

By means of an announcement from the Directorate General for Water, public information has begun, for three months, on the draft Flood Risk Management Plan (PGRI) for the second cycle of the Miño-Sil Demarcation.

During this period, comments and suggestions may be made to the Miño-Sil River Basin Authority on the text, which can be consulted on the agency’s website.

The documents for consultation form part of the third and final phase of the assessment and management of flood risks, consisting of the preparation and drafting of the PGRI of the second cycle, which is to be integrated into the Demarcation’s own hydrological planning.

In the Spanish part of the Miño-Sil River Basin District, 268 sections of Areas at Significant Risk of Flooding (ARPSI) have been identified, organised into 26 groupings (23 purely fluvial, 2 fluvial-pluvial and one fluvial-groundwater), with a total length of 597.42 kilometres.

The corresponding hazard and risk maps have been generated for these ARPSIs. Likewise, the studies carried out conclude that up to 29,965 inhabitants, a surface area of 242.38 square kilometres, and up to 149 elements of singular importance (health, educational, cultural and water treatment centres, etc.) could be affected by low frequency flooding (Q500).

The main advance in risk planning is the study and consideration of the possible repercussions of climate change on the incidence of floods.

The programme of measures of the second cycle of Flood Risk Management Plans for the Spanish part of the Miño-Sil River Basin District includes measures amounting to 55 million euros, compared to the 27 million euros included in the first cycle, of which 41 million euros correspond to continuous measures and 14 million euros to one-off measures.

These measures include the maintenance and conservation of watercourses, hydrological-forestry restoration and agrological planning; improvement of the permeability of infrastructures; flood forecasting, reservoir management and improvement of hydrological warning systems; emergency and self-protection plans, activation and communication protocols; adaptation of urban planning, reorganisation of land use and promotion of insurance against floods for people and property, including agricultural insurance. Structural measures are also envisaged, such as channelling, with cost-benefit studies.

For the execution of this work, the coordination and collaboration of all the agents involved will be essential, such as the basin organisations, Civil Protection and UME, administrations responsible for land-use planning, insurance companies, researchers, etc.