06 Feb The European project LIFE Regenera Limia will launch a score of actions to improve the river basin of the Limia river (Ourense)
- More than two million euros will be invested to recover the environmental quality of the Limia river as it passes through this region
- During the next three years, it will be developing four blocks of action that will help reduce the presence of nutrients in the basin
- Training activities are also aimed at companies in the agricultural-livestock sector and the general public
February 5, 2015.– The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, through the Miño-Sil Hydrographic Confederation, will invest two million euros in the implementation of the LIFE Regenera Limia project, which was created with the objective of recovering the environmental quality of the Limia river to Its passage through this region of Ourense through more than twenty acts.
This project, which was selected last year by the European Commission among nearly 1,500 applications, aims to apply a set of preventive and regenerative measures to reduce the nutrients of livestock origin in the water bodies of the Limia river basin, with The objective of complying with the environmental objectives established by the Water Framework Directive and the regulations for transposition into Spanish legislation.
The Xinzo de Limia Culture House has hosted today an open day to the public in which the project partners have explained the different techniques that will be used to improve the river basin.
CONCRETE ACTIONS
In particular, a set of 26 actions have been presented, divided into four main action blocks, among which the development of alternative solutions for the management of livestock waste aimed at reducing their impact on the environment through artificial wetlands intensive macrophytes. It is a question of creating an artificial lagooning system as a pilot project for the treatment of pig slurry by means of natural purification methods.
At the same time, it contemplates the creation and implementation of an Integrated Control System for the management of fertilizers and fertilizers in agricultural soils that allows a more efficient use of these, reducing the diffuse nutrient contributions to the waters.
It is also planned the conversion of the old sand mining mining operations in the Antela Canal in a lagoon system of ponds that enhance the natural purification capacity of the river course and that contributes to the recovery of moist spaces in the A Limia ZEPA.
The environmental recovery of the modified river beds and the regeneration and reconnection of lagoon systems will also be carried out to reduce the presence of nutrients in water and eutrophication, while recovering the local ecosystems of special importance in spaces included in the Natura 2000 Network
With the implementation of these actions, it is expected that once the project is completed, which will last for three years, not only the concentration of nutrients in water but also 30% of the use of fertilizers, 50% for fertilizers and 40% less for greenhouse gases.
TRAINING AND INFORMATION ACTIONS
The program also includes training and information activities for the most affected sectors, with approximately one thousand people expected to participate in the planned activities.
In the project, co-financed by the LIFE program of the European Union, the Xunta de Galicia, through the Department of Environment, Territory and Infrastructures, participate as beneficiary partners, the Provincial Council of Ourense, Inorde, Lagunas and the livestock sector, as well as Gas Natural as financial collaborator.
All the project information is available on the web www.regeneralimia.org and through social networks Facebook and Twitter.