La Grajera dam is expected to have its first Emergency Plan in place by next summer, including monitoring for possible failures and flood warning sirens, the councillor for the Environment, José Manuel Zúñiga, said on Monday.
As Zúñiga told a press conference, the Plan, which he pointed out is “mandatory”, will establish “for the first time the preventive measures to minimise the risk to the public in the event of a failure”.
Last week, he reported, “the Local Government Board approved awarding the works to implement the La Grajera Dam Emergency Plan to Lafcarr Project & Design S.L. for €178,354”.
“These works,” the councillor explained, “include building an emergency room and a control centre, a communications system and general alarm systems”.
The La Grajera Dam Emergency Plan was drawn up in 2016 by consultants Berceo Ingenieros to comply with the Basic Civil Protection Planning Guideline on flood risk, approved by the Council of Ministers on 31 January 1995 and published in the BOE on 14 February that year, and the Technical Regulation on Dam and Reservoir Safety, approved by Ministerial Order of 12 March 1996 and published in the BOE on 30 March that year.
In 2018, he explained, “work began on the technical project setting out the means and resources needed to comply with the Emergency Plan, and now the works and installations it specifies are going to be carried out”.
According to the councillor, La Grajera dam has been classified as ‘Category A’ based on its potential failure risk, by Resolution of the Directorate-General for Hydraulic Works of 7 November 2014. “This high classification is solely due to its proximity to a town, together with terrain and geology that favour run-off,” he noted.
The works to implement the Emergency Plan fall into three parts: a monitoring and data acquisition system for flows and levels; a physical emergency room at the dam and a control centre at the Town Hall; and a public warning system.
At present, Zúñiga said, “the La Grajera dam has no monitoring of any kind to assess its internal condition, other than visual inspection of the face and crest and access to the bottom outlet gallery”.
Once the Plan is in place, “the control centre at the Town Hall will run the dam and emergency management software, as well as the remote data server, communications equipment and siren activation for emergencies”.
Implementing the Emergency Plan “also involves building an emergency room near the dam, high enough not to flood and so out of harm's way, with safe access for installing the necessary automation and communication equipment”.
In addition, Zúñiga added, the Plan “will also provide a networked workstation from which the emergency can be managed on site”.
The Plan will also introduce a communications system that, according to Zúñiga, meets the Basic Civil Protection Planning Guideline on flood risk. There will also be video camera surveillance and a weather station at the dam, controlled from the Town Hall control centre.
It will also have a public warning system made up of two sirens strategically located to cover the areas affected during the first half hour of a flood.
According to the La Grajera Dam Emergency Plan, Zúñiga stressed, “no town or significant transport infrastructure would be affected in the first half hour after a dam failure, so there will be just one siren at La Grajera dam itself and another near the LO-20 junction with the El Arco district, to ensure minimum sound levels along the whole route”.
By law, implementing the Emergency Plan requires setting up a monitoring committee made up of representatives of Logroño City Council, the Ebro River Basin Authority, national Civil Protection and La Rioja regional Civil Protection. The committee will manage emergency information in real time.
The Emergency Plan follows the technical guide ‘Drawing up Dam Emergency Plans’ produced by the Directorate-General for Hydraulic Works and Water Quality of the Ministry of the Environment.
More information:
https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/4593768/0/la-grajera-tendra-para-verano-su-primer-plan-de-emergencias-con-control-de-roturas-y-sirenas-de-aviso-de-inundaciones/
https://www.europapress.es/la-rioja/noticia-plan-emergencia-presa-grajera-incluye-creacion-sala-emergencia-sistema-alarmas-20211213113208.html
https://logrono.es/-/el-ayuntamiento-de-logrono-pone-en-marcha-el-plan-de-emergencia-de-la-presa-de-la-grajera
