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Diari Valencià

TSJCV Validates Júcar-Vinalopó Water Transfer Agreement

The High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community upholds the agreement ensuring water for irrigation and aquifer recovery in over twenty municipalities.

Generic image of a tap with running water and dry agricultural fields in the background, symbolizing water management.
IA

Generic image of a tap with running water and dry agricultural fields in the background, symbolizing water management.

The High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community has ratified the validity of the agreement regulating the water transfer from the Júcar to the Vinalopó, ensuring resources for irrigation and aquifer recovery in over twenty localities.

The TSJCV's decision validates the agreement signed on March 26, 2007, between the irrigators of the Central Board of Users of Vinalopó, the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ), and Acuamed. This agreement, along with its addendum number 1 from October 27, 2023, allows for the distribution of water flows at an affordable price for irrigators, subsidized by the central government, and contributes to the regeneration of underground aquifers that supply drinking water to more than twenty municipalities in the Vinalopó valleys.
The Xúquer Viu Ecologist Association had filed an appeal requesting the annulment of the agreement on a technicality, arguing that it had exceeded the maximum four-year term stipulated in the Public Sector Legal Regime Law. However, the court has ruled that agreements for the execution, financing, or operation of hydraulic works arranged by Acuamed fall under a legal exception that allows for longer terms when sectoral regulations provide for it.
In this case, the consolidated text of the Water Law and the principle of cost recovery justify an extended duration, given the high cost of the infrastructures, amounting to 300 million euros according to the 2023 agreement, and the need to amortize them under viable conditions. The TSJCV also rejected the notion that the 2023 addendum constitutes a new agreement, considering it a novation of the original text focused on modifying clause six regarding tariff payments.
On the other hand, the ruling does annul two resolutions from the Water Commissioner of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, dated February 12 and 16, 2024, which authorized the diversion of surface water from the Júcar river at the Marquesa weir (Cullera) towards the Vinalopó-Alacantí system. The court found a violation of the Júcar Basin Hydrological Plan, as the mandatory annual exploitation plan had not been approved beforehand. This plan was finally approved on February 26, 2025.
The judgment implicitly acknowledges that this annulment has no retroactive practical effects, as the water transfers authorized in February 2024 were already executed at the time, exceeding 20 cubic hectometers. Therefore, the appeal's estimation is limited to the declaration of formal nullity of the administrative acts, without affecting the volumes already transferred. The resolution does not impose procedural costs on any of the parties, as the appeal was only partially upheld.

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