Guadalmedina riverbed gets a thorough clear-up ahead of possible downpours in Malaga

This week the excavators have been hard at work on the Guadalmedina riverbed in Malaga, digging up and clearing away all the debris and rubbish in its city centre stretch, amidst the curiosity of passers-by walking over Armiñán bridge. Downstream, the riverbed has already been transformed into a vast dirt track. The aim is to facilitate the passage of water to the sea in the event of a flood, what with autumn approaching and, with it, the increased risk of low-pressure storms and cold fronts, especially with the increased evaporation due to rising sea temperatures.

All such work is part of the regular riverbed maintenance plan undertaken by Malaga city council's operational services department, headed up by Teresa Porras. Work on the river will continue throughout this week, according to municipal sources.

This is one project in a stream of maintenance work that has been under way for several months, under city council orders, by Pérez Garrán, the company awarded the contract. This contractor has been working on dozens of river and stream beds and the plan is to finish by November. Where and in what order the work is done has been determined by the risk level and technical guidance from Civil Protection.

Few policies have proven as important in Malaga as those related to the prevention of floods and flash floods. In the province in general and in the capital in particular, the succession of extremely dry periods followed by periods of storms and torrential rains has been unequivocally confirmed. In fact, over the last year, the drought has given way to a series of storms and flash floods.

The city council will carry out work specifically at 211 locations, according to the technical document on rivers and streams prepared by the aforementioned technical experts.

Malaga city hall allocates a maximum annual budget of 726,000 euros for these jobs. The work carried out through this service contract consists of: collection of solid urban waste (rubbish, objects, furniture, household appliances, clothes, fabrics, other household goods, vehicles or parts thereof, rubble, other debris and so on), removal of dead animals, removal of undergrowth and weeding, removal of bushes, tree branches and even trees, drainage checks (including the levelling and removal of accumulated sand or soil), fixing riverbanks and stream (reshaping, conditioning and raising the sides and other embankments), repair of filters and absorbers and removal of small buildings and/or installations that have fallen into disuse, as directed by Civil Protection service or other competent bodies.

These tasks are complemented by other work underway at the outlets into the sea and on the sand at the city's beaches, where the land is being dredged, stabilised and shored up where necessary.

Prior to all this work starting, and to prevent protected flora and fauna and registered colonies from being affected by such maintenance work, the environmental inspection company Malagueña Forestal SL conducted a pre-inspection of all the locations where work was needed.

The company awarded the contract for the clear-up is Hermanos Pérez Garrán SL. The contract is for a maximum total amount of 2,178,000 euros (IVA sales tax included) over three years, which means a maximum annual budget of 726,000 euros (IVA included).

During the past year, this clean-up plan has done work at 360 spots along rivers and streams included in this plan. In addition to those initially planned for in the Civil Protection document (303), which serves as the basis for the plan that begins in the summer, the locations proposed by this prevention service (59) were added after the heavy rains recorded in Malaga city in October and November 2024.