Project Overview
The river catchment is the scale of water management in the European Union. As the Tagus River is a transboundary river, its management competences are divided into two parts: the Spanish and the Portuguese demarcation. Ecological flows are presented as an Ecohydrology measure that must be implemented in all surface water bodies in the basin to achieve an improvement in the ecological status of the whole.
Ecosystem Services
Provisioning
- Provisioning Services are ecosystem services that describe the material or energy outputs from ecosystems. They include food, water and other resources.
Regulating
- Regulating Services are the services that ecosystems provide by acting as regulators eg. regulating the quality of air and soil or by providing flood and disease control.
Habitat / Supporting
- Ecosystem services "that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services". These include services such as nutrient recycling, primary production and soil formation.
Cultural
- Cultural Services corresponds nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences.
Major Issues
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No issues provided.
EH Engineering Solutions
Areas of the floodplain have been transformed
Areas of the floodplain have been transformed into lagoons or shallow swamps covered with emergent macrophytes (Thypha angustigolia, Phsgmytes australis) that function as lagoon systems that purify discharges of organic matter and nutrients.
E-Flows should provide habitat through ecological and
E-Flows should provide habitat through ecological and geomorphological processes, but also should offer a temporal pattern of flows that allows seasonal changes in composition and structure as in the reference communities. In order to achieve these objectives, e-Flows must have the following components: ● Minimum flows that must be exceeded in order to conserve aquatic communities ● Maximum flows that must not be exceeded in order to protect native species adapted to Mediterranean summer low flo
In order to enhance the effects of
In order to enhance the effects of environmental flows in the aquatic and riverside communities, modifications have been made to the existing infrastructures in the river: a) Elimination or lowering of transversal barriers to increase longitudinal connectivity and reduce the surface of the impounded river. b) Elimination or setback of longitudinal dikes that manage to increase transversal connectivity, providing more space during floods where processes associated with riparian vegetation encroachment, aquifer recharge, soil enrichment and nutrient capture are carried out.
Project Activities
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The following activities have been taken place:
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-Monitoring instream daily flows along River Tajo and its main tributaries
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-Monitoring nutrients and water quality along River Tajo and its main tributaries
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-Monitoring the biological status (macroinvertebrates, fish and algae) along the River Tajo
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-Analysis of the environmental flows assigned to each section of the Tagus River and evaluation of the degree of compliance each year.
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-Identification of occurring flow-biota interactions at R. Tajo, and assessment of which of them are acting as limiting factors for the achievement of good ecological status. We will focus on those factors that depend on the circulating flows, since their analysis will allow the improvement in the design of their environmental flows.
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-Investigation of other factors that may be conditioning the ecological state of the Tagus River (nutrients, water quality or geomorphology), in cases where flow-biota interaction (dual regulation) is not found. In the case of factors associated with water quality, verify dilution issues
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and in the case of geomorphological factors, evaluate the physical restoration of the channel.
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-Previous activities have provided the scientific background for the development and design of problem-solving methodology for the improvement in the design of their environmental flows, the mitigation of the eutrophication and pollution problems, and the restoration of the geomorphic processes.
Expected Outcomes
The Hydrological Plan approved in 2023 is very ambitious in that it aims to achieve the good status of all water masses by 2027. To this end, it has implemented numerous measures to improve water quality, river restoration, as well as advances in the establishment of ecological flows.