In 2003 someone released 18 Bavarian beavers into the Ebro basin without saying anything. They have already arrived in Catalonia

It was a matter of time. In 2005 and while studying the European mink on the banks of the Aragón River, biologist Juan Carlos Ceña realized that something didn’t fit. There were felled trees, remains of forage, footprints, burrows and very specific droppings: it was just what one would expect to find in the vicinity of a beaver community. But there were no beavers in Spain. Everyone knew that. The strange story of the Iberian beavers. For years, researchers have debated whether the last specimens disappeared in the 17th century, the 18th century, or even the 19th century. In the end, the consensus is that the only evidence available They place them in the 2nd century BC. After that moment, no one knows what happened to the peninsula’s beavers. Therefore, what Ceña had just discovered was a bombshell. But, as soon as they started investigating it, they realized that there was a lot of fabric to cut. Sometime in the spring of 2003, someone illegally introduced 18 European beavers from Bavaria. Nobody knows for sure who he was or why he did it. But we know that it continued to be done. Today, there are beavers in the Tagus and the Guadalquivir. And of course we know that your beaver expansion it’s not natural. In 2023, biologist Teresa Calderón calculation that the Tormes beavers would have taken 40 years to get there by their own means from the closest documented population. The Andalusian case is more bloody: there is no way for the beavers to travel on their own the 365 kilometers of southern subplateau between the stretch of the Guadalquivir where they were found in 2023 and the closest point where we had previously found them. The ‘beaver bombing’ was a reality. But the worst was not (only) that: the worst was that, once they reached a river, they were there to stay. As soon as they took root in an area, they did not abandon it: if in 2007 they had already ‘conquered’ 60 kilometers of riverbank, by 2023 the beavers were already in Mequinenza and the lower stretch of the Ebro. It was a matter of time before they arrived in Catalonia and the news is that they have already arrived. The Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications has confirmed the presence of the beaver in the Segrià region, in the province of Lleida. Good news. And I’m not talking about the expansion of the beaver. That, today, is neither good nor bad news. It just is. I’m talking about, according to a handful of recent articles, “Beavers can turn river corridors into permanent carbon sinks“That is, they can be a climate ally that helps us recharge aquifers, purify water naturally and help in the recovery of wetlands. It is the ecological version of the old Castilian saying that “when God closes a door, he opens a window.” And thank goodness, because invasive species are here and we will not be able to get rid of them. Image | Derek Otway In Xataka | 20 years ago someone thought it was a good idea to release beavers into the Ebro. Now Zaragoza has a problem that is difficult to solve

The hydrographic basin that is most suffering from drought is an unexpected one: Galicia’s

Summer It is taking its toll To the Spanish reservoirs and, despite the fact that the hydrographic basins maintain good health, some of these areas have seen how their reserves have markedly diminish. This has led to repeat an already familiar scenario: consumption restrictions. First restrictions. Galicia is an example of this. In this community there have been several councilsespecially in those located south of Pontevedra, who have announced restrictions to the use of water. The implemented measures differ as the case reported the Chain ser. The problem affects more areas of the Northwest, not just Galicia. As reported The newspaper Commercesome municipalities and parishes in Asturias have already announced the implementation of measures of this type to force water savings. These measures, explains the local press, affect only the “great consumption”, such as swimming pools and vehicle washing, similar to the previous ones. The restrictions have even reached some municipalities in the province of León, especially in the Laciana region, also reported the local press. The town hall of Villablino has been the one who has given the alarm, announcing restrictions on domestic use. The Galician basins. The data published this week on the Stadium of the Reservoirs confirm a worrying trend in a good part of the basins of the northwest of the Peninsula. This is especially notorious in The basins of the coast of Galicia The only basin north of Júcar below 60 % of its capacity, with its swamps full of 58.5% on average (400 hm³ in total). At the end of May, these reservoirs exceeded 80% of its capacity. Question of size? There are two factors that explain this rapid descent. The first is a hard summer: the month of June was an extremely warm month in Spain, Also dry (Galicia being one of the driest areas within the Peninsula). Although the month of July was somewhat more wet, most of the rainfall concentrated on the west peninsular. The second is that we are talking about a small, the sixth smaller sixth basin, with a capacity of 490 hm³, a small fraction of the capacity of neighboring basins such as that of the Miño-Sil (3,030 hm³) or the Duero (7,602 hm³). Lower size implies greater variability, less capacity to absorb Shocks and changes. Below 2024. Although the situation is not so striking in the rest of Galician basins, there is a detail that all the Northwest basins share (Western Cantabrian, Duero, Galician Basins and Miño-Sil): they all have less water than they had last year by these dates. The difference is more pronounced in the small basins: the reservoirs of the Galician coast kept 483 hm³ this week, which implies a drop of 17.2%, while those of the Western Cantabrian They have passed from 430 to 357 hm³, almost 17% less. In contrast, that of the Miño-Sil It went from 2,506 to 2,403 (4.1% less), and The Duero From 5,993 to 5,766 hm³ (3.8% less). On average, the Peninsular basins They have 14.9% more water than last year by these same dates. Summer remains ahead. There are still almost two months left for the end of the hydrological year. This change of the year is between the months of September and October, at which time autumn precipitations usually change the descendant trend in the reserve of the summer months. In Xataka | The next great drought is a matter of time. It is the one we have to solve the problem of sediments in reservoirs Image | Vjgalaxy

It is a sign of all the problems that corner the Tagus basin

Yesterday, the Manzanares S riverIt could significantly The high risk threshold of overflow in Madrid. It is not just an “alert”: the river It has overflowed In the brown, the connection branch between the M-30 and the M-40 was cut for hours, but there are Almost another dozen roads that are still cut by the storm. As it happened In Seville a few days ago, In Guadalajara last week either It is happening in Toledo Right now, it is very striking. Above all, because it is something that goes far beyond Manzanares. What is happening? What are we seeing? And it is that the Manzanares is only a sign of endless problems that face the basins of the Tagus and that of the Guadiana: rivers that usually carry very little flow and that, suddenly, channel a huge amount of water. And, as we said yesterday, the problem is never just the water that falls: the problem is, above all, that water has to go somewhere. But it is not easy. For many reasons: the first is that ‘natural’, these types of floods are usually accompanied by landslides, phenological realignments and other geological phenomena. The rest, unfortunately, are of human origin. For decades, we have been building around the channels as if the water they carry out all the water they can carry. We have narrowed the alluvial plains, we have built In flood areaswe have raised concrete structures that today (with these accumulated) are unable to contain the strength of the rivers. Manzanares is news because it is in Madrid, yes; But it is also news because it will affect hundreds of thousands of people; And, above all, it is news because it is a very clear example of what is happening in the center of the Peninsula: problems, many problems. The great paradox, again. As We said a few days agothe great paradox that brings us climate change is that we have to prepare to survive periods of increasingly long and intense droughtwhile we plan infrastructure and plans against increasingly intense floods. Talavera is a good example. According to the Center for Public Works Studies and Experimentation From the Government of Spain, the average flow of the Tagus in March as it passes through the Toledo city is 188 m3/s. Right now it is 750, now has overflowed at many points and the City Council is convinced that it will be up For the rain. And what do we do? That is the big question. Because, As the meteorologist Jordi Carbó explained“We have fallen into a difficult dynamic to break.” Although it is true that the ECMWF Start drawing some deceleration of rainfall, “forecasts prologize the rains until the beginning of April.” That is, “it is very likely that in this month of March there will be excellent precipitation records” and, in a context in which March It is becoming more and more rainyit is crucial to take it into account. But right now it only remains to remember. Today the urgent is to take action, displace people who can be affected and contain the damage. Tomorrow the important thing is to take it into account and put ourselves to work so that the next flood caught us prepared. Image | ECMWF | CGM Madrid In Xataka | It has rained so much in Spain that the reservoirs are up. And still nobody wants to remove water restrictions

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