Spain: Improvement of the ecological status of the River Órbigo in Duero Basin

The restoration of the Orbigo river benefitted from the implementation of various Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM), such as levee removal and setbacks, rip-rap removal, recovery of secondary channels, floodplain reclamation, and re-afforestation of the riparian zone with native species. The public participation process was carried out over three years and 50 meetings, where local authorities and stakeholders had the chance to help consult on the project and its implementation and monitoring.

Engaging the public was necessary as the project clashed with stakeholders that benefitted from the channelization of the river in various sectors, such as housing, farming, and poplar plantations. Challenging antecedent beliefs that support the channelization and reduction of natural floodplains was done through public funded environmental education, encouraging active participation of the public and raising awareness of riverine ecosystems. This also garnered the support of use public funding and the necessary expropriation. A volunteering program was also introduced, with 800 participants that had a significant impact on the attitudes toward the project locally, and nationally through coverage in media and dissemination of the project as a reference case, used by students and professionals alike. A video was also made in Spanish and English, detailing the steps and motivations of the project for companies and partnerships.

Flood control: Once the project had been carried out (the works were completed in September 2012), the first results could be observed during the high waters that occurred in February and April of 2013 and 2014, where water flows higher than those in the last 15 years (not taking into account the attenuation due to the newly available floodplain areas) have remarkably showed that there have not been economic damages and the local community (as opposed to what happens in other areas of the basin) not only has requested new actions, but also has assumed the consequences of high water flows as an expected event, with a perception of feeling safer.

Ecosystem improvement: By recovering the stream space and therefore the capacity to attenuate floods of the floodplain, we achieve, as a consequence, a greater infiltration rate and rate of recharge of the alluvial aquifer and achieve higher habitat diversity, by recovering areas adjacent such as secondary channels, side bars, outflow deltas, oxbow wetlands, etc., which contribute to improving the biodiversity associated to stream ecosystems as well as to related ecosystems.

Cost-savings: In economic terms, the application of approaches within a framework of green infrastructure is particularly relevant; it means also a new direction since it gives the works the capacity to self-regulate, reducing drastically the need for maintenance, serving as well as a constant example of proper functioning facing highly stable inertias.

Social benefits: Finally we may note that the project has lead the towns located on the sides of the Órbigo River in the project area to regain their traditional relationship, through the integration of the river in the urban setting, as opposed to the previous situation where the river was isolated by longitudinal dikes. This has also an economic dimension, through the improvement of the landscape and the strengthening of tourism opportunities.