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Flood risk
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Important work is still pending to fix two areas that are heavily impacted by flood waters in Malaga province, the Campanillas river and the lower stretch of the Guadalhorce.
Progress at the Campanillas river is down to private developers and urban works by Malaga cty council. Meanwhile, the Guadalhorce project is the responsibility of central government and it is in the environmental approval stage.
The Junta de Andalucía and a group of developers have reactivated the project to channel the Campanillas river, which is complex but necessary work to protect the area from flash flooding.
Without the guarantee of the flood footprint being resolved, it is not possible to build in the area, but there are important projects on the table. This is the year through which the project has begun to move forward as these plots of land are seen as an important lifeline to provide Malaga with subsidised housing, as more than 4,000 homes are planned (56% of the 7,000 homes planned for this area, a much higher level than the usual 30%).
It is almost five years since the Campanillas flood, but little progress has been mades since then. In a very short space of time, storm Gloria hit the neighbourhood, depositing some 400mm. It was January 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Campanillas project involves a substantial investment. The main one is the channelling of the river, work costed at more than 65 million euros, although recently there have been calls for a cheaper solution.
A group of developers, headed by the Vega family, have contracted two technical studies, one for channelling and the other for hydrology, through architect Ángel Asenjo, in order to make progress. These studies are being completed by Malaga engineering consultant Estudio 7. With this decision, time is gained and work can begin on the planning of the area and cut down on the lengthy procedures for the loading of the land. This is why this agreement has been developed with the Junta.
The city council is working on the Calle Adonis and Calle Cristobalina Fernández areas to reinforce the safety of the neighbourhood. A few months ago it contracted Rialsa for 1.2 million euros to build the water collection network in these streets. The aim is to carry out the necessary corrections to channel the water coming from the Pilones river. In addition to those streets, problems will also be avoided in the El Brillante neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, in the lower course of the Guadalhorce, the council has just contracted the work to repair the Azucarera bridge, a key step to provide pace of mind to residents, industrial estate and business owners in the area.
The central government project is valued at 36 million and will focus on increasing the drainage capacity of the bridges by widening the spans. The idea is also to eliminate the roundabout on the left bank and the building at the fork in the channel; to extend the existing walls of the channel both upstream and downstream, or to eliminate the platform of the old railway track.
The devastating effects of the flooding of the Guadalhorce river have been noted since ancient times. From paleo-floods to recent episodes well remembered by all such as the November 1989 floods.
The greatest guarantees for the lower course of the river against possible flooding are provided by the Casasola dam, inaugurated in 2000 and designed to control the flooding of the river Campanillas, a tributary on the left bank, and the channelling of the last seven kilometres of the course, also carried out by the then Confederación Hidrográfica del Sur (Southern Hydrographic Confederation).
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