Riba-roja and Paterna are working on a European project to protect Turia Natural Park and La Vallesa against fires using treated water

• Today, both towns presented this joint initiative with which they are competing in the III call for Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) which benefits from FEDER funds to support innovative measures in the sphere of sustainable urban development

• The project, which could be 80% subsidised by European funds, will also be financed by Riba-roja, Paterna, Hidraqua, Medi XXI, Valencia University, the Polytechnic University of Valencia and Cetaqua

Riba-roja, 11th April 2018.- The Town Halls of Paterna and Riba-roja de Túria presented Project Guardian this morning, an innovative initiative that they have prepared jointly with Hidraqua, both towns intending to improve the preparation and resilience to fire of the wooded area of Turia Natural Park and La Vallesa they share through the re-use of residual water from a water treatment station.

The presentation ceremony, which took place at the Castell de Riba-roja, was attended by the mayor of Riba-roja, Robert Raga, the mayor of Paterna, Juan Antonio Sagredo, the manager of Hidraqua, Massimo Marras and the director of Turia Natural Park.

Also attending were various representatives of other companies and institutions that have taken part in this project, such as the Medi XXI consultancy, the Water Economy Group of Valencia University, the Water Engineering and Environment Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and Cetaqua, the Water Technology Centre.

In their speeches, the directors explained that project Guardian has been presented at the III edition of Urban Innovative Actions (UIA), an initiative with funds for supporting innovative measures in the sphere of sustainable urban development. The project, whose execution period is from March 2019 to March

2022, has a total cost of 5.5 million euros, 80% subsidised with FEDER Funds from the EU while the rest will be financed by the town halls, companies and universities mentioned above.

The mayor of Riba-roja, Robert Raga, stated that “this is a project that fulfils the parameters of R+D+I, meeting the sustainability criteria with the twin aspect of re-using residual waters from the EDAR Camp de Túria II water treatment plant and the prevention of fires in Turia Natural Park and La Vallesa”.

Raga highlighted the initial work undertaken by a student of Agronomy, who put the initiative on the table and insisted on the need to protect both this natural enclave as well as residential areas such as Els Pous, Valencia La Vella and Masía de Traver that border Turia Natural Park. “We will continue working on the cleaning, conservation and adaptation of the Park, especially in the treatment of the reeds next to the Forestry Defence Coordinator for the Túria river and the Natural Park”.

With regard to Paterna, which will contribute €700,000 also 80% subsidised, Juan Antonio Sagredo explained that, among other initiatives, an entire network to supply regenerated water will be installed in the wooded area of Paterna, 2 500m3 water tanks and a network of up to 9 water cannons forming a perimeter around homes most at risk from fire, which will give coverage to 800m2 of the wildland-urban interface.

In this respect, the mayor of Paterna also announced that the project also considers for the town, “the recovery of La Vallesa lake as a wet zone, the execution of Preventive Forestry work in the wildland-urban interface, with work on an approximate surface area of 26 hectares, the execution of forest monitoring in the wooded area of La Vallesa and the refurbishment and improvement of the La Vallesa fire lookout tower”.

The urban areas of Riba-roja and Paterna share the “La Vallesa” wooded area and Turia Natural Park, which, due to their high level of anthropisation and integration into the urban structure, are subject to an elevated risk of fire with a high impact in terms of loss of life and material damage.

Therefore, with Project Guardian, both Riba-roja and Paterna propose a set of strategies to improve the resilience of the urban areas affected and is based on the implementation of a battery of innovative initiatives with the use of regenerated water as its central axis.

Regarding these initiatives, Hidraqua manager, Mássimo Marras, pointed out that, “this is a project that considers, for the first time, the elimination of chloropyrifos, an emerging contaminant found in the treated water that it is envisaged will be re-used and, to do so, systems have been developed that allow their elimination in the treatment process so that, when it comes to re-using this water, it lacks this contaminant. Water treated in this way will also be used for the ecological improvement of the La Vallesa reservoir as an integrated element of this innovative prevention strategy”.

Also proposed is the transformation of the vegetation through the creation of “green barriers” in strategic places with species that are more resistant to fire that help slow down the advance of a fire front, should the need arise. These green barriers will be irrigated in a controlled manner, using regenerated water, to ensure that optimum humidity levels are maintained.

In contrast to what currently happens, this irrigation will be regulated based on the measurement of field data through a network of sensors so that only the amount of water required will be provided to prevent uncontrolled vegetation growth.

Finally, the project involves training and information for the local population to raise self-protection levels. The creation of individualised irrigation maps so that each resident is aware of the risk associated with their property and training so that measures leading to its reduction can be taken. Also envisaged is the organisation of courses, workshops, simulations and the creation of guides to pyrogardening, in other words, fire resistant gardens.

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