San Pedro denies diverting watercourses in El Mojón and urges faster flood protection work

San Pedro del Pinatar council has denied this 26 October that it is diverting ravines or watercourses in El Mojón and has called for faster progress on the flood protection project being processed by the Segura river basin authority (CHS).

The council is responding to statements by Pilar de la Horadada council about conditions in the neighbourhood during torrential rain, in a dispute involving water management and road access.

Barriers and alternatives for the road

Mayca Egea, the councillor responsible for urban maintenance, says the barriers used during the latest rainfall replace the bulk bags that had already been used previously.

She says their purpose is to limit the large amounts of mud reaching streets closest to the sea and improve the natural flow of the watercourse, rather than divert watercourses.

Citing CHS reports, the council says around 80% of the flow that repeatedly floods El Mojón comes from the catchment area in Pilar de la Horadada.

For the El Mojón road, San Pedro’s technical staff are examining other options instead of the change to the road’s vertical alignment proposed by Pilar.

The council’s position is that this alternative would still leave the road cut off during rainfall, so it wants interim measures to be considered that avoid perpetuating that access problem.

A long-term solution still being processed

San Pedro sees the underlying solution as the construction of a controlled water storage area, known as a ZAC, and four flood attenuation dams, measures still being processed by the CHS.

Egea is asking the administrations to work together to accelerate those upstream interventions and protect affected residents, rather than prolong the confrontation between the two councils.

The council also denies causing administrative delays to the project and says its municipal reports were submitted at an earlier stage.

It adds that it did not lodge further objections during the latest public consultation because that step was not mandatory, and calls for the planned measures to proceed as quickly as possible.