Delta Environmental Indicators

Preserving the environmental quality of the Ebro River Delta.

Challenge

With a surface of over 320 km2, the Ebro Delta, located at the mouth of the Ebro River south of Barcelona, constitutes an ecosystem of great importance for the Iberian Peninsula. To preserve its environmental quality and better understand the magnitude, extent and frequency of hazards threatening the Delta’s ecosystem, AcuaMed sought to implement a set of environmental indicators that would enable impact reduction measures.

ADASA’s Solution

ADASA has developed and deployed a smart real time monitoring network of 70 hydrological, biological and physical-chemical control points using automatic stations, probes, sensors and floating platforms in the river, irrigation canals, lagoons and bays of the Ebro Delta.

ADASA also managed the integration of the collected data into the information systems of the Ebro River Basin Authority and the Catalan Water Agency.

Result

ADASA’s water quality monitoring system gave AcuaMed a powerful tool for controlling, monitoring and supervising ecosystems and habitat conditions. Simultaneously, all agencies responsible for aspects of the management of the Ebro Delta had enhanced data for their analysis of the Delta’s condition and evolution through time.

The system has significantly improved the knowledge of the Ebro Delta and enabled quick action to mitigate critical events. The real time information and historic records support decision making and the definition of measures and plans that foster the preservation of the Delta for the benefit of all citizens.

Client

AcuaMed is a government-owned enterprise that reports directly to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment of the Spanish government. AcuaMed supplies water to irrigation districts, councils and companies supplying drinking water. It operates a range of hydraulic infrastructure along the Mediterranean Basin in eastern and north eastern Spain.