WRITTEN QUESTION E-3023/00

by María Sornosa Martínez (PSE) to the Commission

(26 September 2000)

Subject: Planned construction of the La Cañada dam on the Turia River (Valencia, Spain)

The project involving the construction of a dam to control the waters in the lower stretch of the Turia River (the La Cañada dam), which is currently at the consultation stage and which will affect the townships of Manises, Riba-roja and Paterna, has led to protests from local people who do not believe such a project to be necessary. According to the explanatory statement relating to the project, the latter is intended to improve and modernise irrigation in order to optimise the use of the available resources by reducing actual demand, whereas the local people affected consider that the planned dam will do nothing to improve irrigation infrastructure since it will merely provide a means of water retention.

Furthermore, the local people maintain that the environmental impact assessment carried out on behalf of the Spanish Environment Ministry presents major shortcomings as regards the way in which it describes, classifies and assesses the area concerned and also the species of flora and fauna found in the area. The study, which concludes that the building of the dam will have a moderate negative impact, has been rejected by local environmental organisations and associations concerned with the protection of Mediterranean woodlands, who have submitted alternative studies which show that many species of fauna and flora included in Annex I (priority conservation) of the habitat Directive 92/43/EEC(1) (e.g. Salís alba, populus alba) and Directive 79/409/EEC(2) on birds (e.g. kingfishers, the common bittern and the purple heron) and which are also protected under a decree issued by the Valencia Regional Government would be seriously threatened if the dam were to be built.

Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the local authorities of the townships concerned have asked the regional government to have the area which the dam would occupy declared a Municipal Nature Area. Their request was rejected by the regional government but has recently been re-submitted.

In view of the above facts, does the Commission not consider Directives 92/43/EEC and 79/409/EEC to have been clearly infringed as regards species which, even though they are included in the annexes to those directives, are nonetheless threatened by the projected La Cañada dam?

Does it believe that, in this case, Directive 97/11/EEC(3) on environmental impact studies has been correctly applied?

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.

(2) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(13 November 2000)

The Commission had not been aware of the project mentioned by the Honourable Member.

However, in the light of the Honourable Member's question, it is confirmed that the area in question has not been designated as a special bird conservation area by Spain under Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds. Nor is this area considered to be an area of relevance to birds.

This area has not been put forward by Spain for inclusion in the Natura 2000 network in pursuance of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of flora and fauna. Furthermore the Commission does not have any details in its possession proving that it is required to be so.

At the moment no precise evidence shows that there has been an infringement of Directives 92/43/EEC and 97/409/EEC. The projected barrages and other water-retention structures are subject to a mandatory impact assessment under Council Directive 97/11/EEC of 3 March 1997, amending Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the impact of certain public and private projects on the environment, where if the amount of water retained and stored on a permanent basis is less than ten cubic hectometres, said projects must be subjected to that procedure if Member States feel that their characteristics so require. In any case, according to the information provided in this written question, the project referred to above was submitted to the impact procedure as provided for in Directive 97/11/EC.

In the light of the information available and since no infringement whatsoever of the Community laws in force can be suspected, the Commission thus feels that this is entirely a matter for the Spanish authorities.