This is because sedimentation occurs at the head of the reservoirs and not at the dams. The Hydrographic Confederation of the Ebro, an authority of the Spanish government in Zaragoza, is legally responsible.
They are indeed busy there. Miguel Garcia Ángel Vera, Head of Water Planning, takes a lot of time to demonstrate this. He has four hydrological plans for the Ebro, thousands of pages of documents and a new six-year plan to combat sedimentation. 18.4 million euros have been approved for this. “A lot of money,” says Vera. 7.5 million euros alone are earmarked to combat erosion in the delta. The rest is for getting the sediment back into the delta.
The question is why the public sector should pay for this damage. “A concession for hydropower rights also gives companies obligations. However, in the case of Endesa, the issue of sediment was not addressed at the time,” says Vera. Now they would do things differently. “But the current concession doesn’t expire until 2060.” Without countermeasures, however, the delta would disappear by then and large parts of the lakes would silt up.