The Municipality of Altea will receive a grant of more than 800,000 euros to develop the project of Ecological Restoration and Improvement of the Lamination Capacity of the Algar River Mouth.
This grant of 810,652 euros represents 95% of the total amount of the project drawn up by the Department of the Environment. The plan aims to restore the mouth of the River Algar, one of the few wetlands in the north of Alicante and a natural area of vital importance as an ecological corridor.
This aid is part of the Biodiversity Foundation’s call for grants for the restoration of river ecosystems and the reduction of flood risk in Spanish urban environments and is articulated through the Spanish Government’s Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience through European funds.
This ambitious project covers an area of 26.5 hectares located between the beach and the Sogai bridge and will begin next year and will last for approximately three years. It will reduce the risk of flooding on some 67,000 m2 of urban land, benefiting some 3,000 inhabitants.
The project will be based mainly on the recovery of the river habitat through the elimination of widespread exotic species such as reeds and some aquatic species, which, together with the planting of native species, will increase the lamination capacity of the river.
A fish ladder will also be created under the N-332 bridge and a lagooning system that will contribute to improving the quality of the water discharged by the WWTP. The recovery of occupied areas of the Public Hydraulic Domain, as well as the removal of debris are other actions contemplated in this project.
From the European Projects Department, we work transversally with all the departments and in this case with the Department of the Environment. Altea has done its homework to be able to absorb this European funding, having the plans that have been required of us a priori, such as the anti-fraud plan or the strategic plan Agenda 2030, in which we have worked on the different sustainable development goals and specifically for this grant we have worked on goal number 11 which is sustainable cities, number 13 which is climate action and number 15 which is life of terrestrial ecosystems.
