The construction project for gauging stations at the springs of the official Guadalquivir basin network wins the Skion Sustainable Solutions Awards

The construction project for gauging stations at the springs of the official Guadalquivir basin network wins the Skion Sustainable Solutions Awards

The construction project for gauging stations at springs developed for the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation has won the award in the Water Footprint category at the SKion Water Sustainable Award Solutions. The project is the first step towards controlling and monitoring water resource management at the springs in this river basin district.

The main objective of the project was to design a network of gauging stations at the springs that flow into the Guadalquivir river basin district. This makes it possible to monitor and contain the overexploitation of groundwater resources, which are managed by the Groundwater and Hydrology Service of the Water Commission of the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority (CHG).  

The CHG is responsible for managing springs, which are considered to be points or areas on the surface of the land where water flows naturally from an aquifer. This management includes quantifying these flowing waters and understanding the discharge regime throughout the year based on variations in flow.

Adasa's solution

The solution designed by Adasa is based on a combination of real-time monitoring of aquifer flow and hydrogeological modeling of the Guadalquivir springs. With the implementation of real-time control of the flows emerging from the springs, the solution proposed by Adasa will make it possible to estimate the state of the water bodies, and through the trends in these flow readings, it will be possible to deduce the state and short-term evolution of the aquifers.

Specifically, Adasa has defined and designed the gauging of 84 springs in the official control network of the Guadalquivir basin, including the infrastructure, sensors, and communication systems necessary to measure and integrate the monitored flows into the Guadalquivir SAIH control network.

The work carried out has been as follows:

1. Identification and definition of the location for the control point, including topography.
2. Study of the range of flows recorded in the historical series.
3. Design of the gauging module appropriate to the range of flows to be measured.
4. Design of the instrumentation.
5. Environmental impact study in each case.
6. Processing of the necessary permits for the construction of the works and facilities.

Many of these springs are located in headwater areas of river basins that coincide with protected natural areas, and therefore have enjoyed a degree of environmental protection.

Sustainability

Accurate and continuous monitoring of underground flow every 5 minutes has enabled early detection of anomalies and optimization of water extraction, complying with the criteria of Spain's PIMA Adapta program.

While manual systems detect leaks after about 15 days, this system does so in less than 24 hours, saving about 9,100 m³ of water per year per spring.

In addition, flow optimization reduces unnecessary extraction by 7.5%, equivalent to 118,260 m³/year per point.

In total, for 84 springs, the savings reach 10.7 million m³/year, similar to the annual consumption of 71,000 people.

The information helps customers report on water use efficiency, natural resource protection, and climate change adaptation measures.

This approach is fully aligned with the objectives of the European Green Deal and the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).