The new sensors will be distributed across the basins of the Mesa and Piedra, Huerva, Aguasvivas, Martín and Matarraña rivers, as well as the lower Ebro. The project represents an investment of 392,000 euros, began in August and has an expected completion period of 18 months.
The aim is to improve the ability to detect more quickly the effects of highly intense storms, particularly events in which large amounts of water fall within a few minutes and cause ravines or small waterways to swell abruptly.
GREATER MONITORING DURING INTENSE STORMS
These phenomena, known as convective events, are particularly difficult to predict. They can release very heavy rainfall over a specific area within a short period and generate rapid floods with unusually high flows. As a result, much of their monitoring depends on having enough observation points in the field.
This is where the new stations come into play. The data they collect will become part of the Ebro Automatic Hydrological Information System (SAIH), the network that makes it possible to track changes in rivers and rainfall as they occur.
At present, the CHE’s integrated hydrological information system has more than 1,500 stations or monitoring points distributed throughout the basin. Together, they transmit more than 15,000 signals related to measurement, control and monitoring.
RIVER DATA EVERY 15 MINUTES
The information recorded by this network reaches the SAIH Data Processing Center every 15 minutes. Among other parameters, it makes it possible to determine a river’s water level, the amount of water stored in reservoirs, its temperature and the amount of rain falling at a given point.
The network includes gauging stations installed in rivers and canals, reservoirs, groundwater monitoring points, rain gauges and telemetric snow gauges. The 29 new devices will now expand this monitoring capacity in areas where the CHE is seeking to improve the early detection of adverse hydrological conditions.
The Ebro River Basin Authority justifies this expansion by pointing to the greater frequency and severity recorded in recent years during certain intense rainfall events. With the new equipment, the agency aims to obtain more accurate and faster information when a storm could lead to a sudden rise in water levels in waterways.
