Alex Trelinski
FIVE Castellon province irrigators are facing prosecution after illegally installing a weir to divert water on the Palancia river which resulted in dead fish appearing on a section in Jerica.
The Guardia Civil’s environment unit, Seprona, started an investigation after receiving reports of the dead fish on March 17.
Officers went to the area and verified that a section of the river in which there should be water was completely dry and that the habitat- a Special Protection Zone as part of the Natura 2000 Network- had been seriously affected.
The Seprona team followed the riverbed upstream and found an unauthorised weir that redirected the entire flow of the river towards an irrigation ditch for the benefit of farmers.
The financial damage to the natural environment and the value of the diverted water is estimated to be over €150,000.
Five people have been investigated on charges of criminal damage, usurpation of the environment, and crimes against of natural resources.
A Seprona report about the incident has been sent to Segorbe’s Investigation Court.
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