BEFESA

Befesa - Completion of the irrigation system modernization works in Totana (Murcia)

On July 18, the irrigation system modernization works for the Tajo-Segura de Totana User Community were handed over to Sociedad Estatal de Infraestructuras Agrarias (SEIASA) del Sur y Este. The ceremony was attended by Jose Maria Dominguez Ibañez, representing the Ministry of Agriculture, who was accompanied by Raul Jimenez Mola, representing SEIASA, and Pedro Rodriguez, representing Befesa Contrucción y Tecnología Ambiental.

The User Community is in the municipal district of Totana (Murcia) and its irrigation surface area is 5,792 hectares that belong to the 2,586 members of the Community. Its water resources are obtained from the Tajo-Segura Transfer System and, within its irrigation perimeter, from the over-exploited Alto Guadalentín aquifer which, to a great extent, alleviates the generalized cycles of drought and deficit of the Transfer System.

The project, the aim of which was to carry out the works required to automate and transform the traditional blanket (by gravity) irrigation system into another pressurized distribution system with drip irrigation on each plot, consisted of

• Construction of two new filtering stations at the outlets of the 900 and 1,200 liter/second Casa del Manco and Lebor reservoirs, with 3" ring filters.
• Modification of 592 plot toe irrigation heads to convert them into drip irrigation heads with the water supply being controlled for each plot.
• Mixed cable-radio communications network for data transmission between the irrigation controllers and the control center.

Irrigation monitoring and management center for the Irrigation Area.

The investment, covered under the National Irrigation Plan, exceeded 4 million euro and has enabled the optimization of water use and management while also ensuring considerable water savings.