Project: Construction of two reservoirs in Gimenells

This project consisted of the construction of two adjoining reservoirs to supply the Intake III which distributes the water from the Vallmanya irrigation ditch of the Canal of Aragon and Catalonia, and the renovation of a supply network.

The project, declared to be of general interest and conducted between May 2007 and April 2009, was funded 50% between the community of farmers with water rights and the public administration, as part of the so-called Irrigation Shock Plan. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural and Marine Environment commissioned TRAGSA to carry out the project and the budget allocated to the project was €3,635,228.99. These major works were supplemented with other works commissioned by the Department of Agriculture of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Autonomous Government of Catalonia) with a cost of €411,918.62.
The planned construction works started from two vessels that had to be excavated and subsequently waterproofed with clay because the water was distributed by a network of pressure pipes running from two small reservoirs which, during periods of increased need, was insufficient.
The building of two new reservoirs and the construction work (capture, deep intakes, spillways, drainages, fencing and guards, connecting pipes) required for the proper functioning of the whole project involved an improvement in the productivity and performance of the irrigation, as well as huge savings in water consumption.
Initiating the works was complicated because of the poor condition of the work area, where there were numerous ineffective materials and a large number of leaks coming from the canal which runs parallel to the reservoirs along their largest part. In order to be able to initiate the work in normal conditions, it was necessary to undertake other activities that were not planned for in project, such as the drainage and analysis of materials, waterproofing the fill of the banks or protecting them with riprap consisting of boulders, dumping into the landfill only what was necessary and avoiding the need to resort to borrowing material.
Only after completing these preliminary works was it possible to undertake what was actually planned in the project: profiling, waterproofing and protection of the vessel and construction work. The work involved a large volume of earth movement given that the sheer size of the project alone involved approximately a total of 26 hectares of free water surface at maximum peak flow, and a capacity of 1.53 hm3.