The filling of the L'Albagés reservoir, in the bed of the Set river and within the Segarra-Garrigues Canal system, was stopped on May 13 upon reaching 56 hm3. The maneuver is part of the load test started in early February to verify the solidity of the infrastructure.
The dam is still far from its total capacity of 80 hm3, but the level will not rise in the short term. The system will maintain a stable volume of around 66% during the coming months because downstream demand does not now exceed 1 hm3 and the resumption of filling will not arrive, at least, until October.
The reservoir remains at 56 hm3 until the irrigation campaign ends
The interruption of filling responds to the system's usage calendar and not to the end of the test. Sources from the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation explained that the different phases adapt to existing needs, among them irrigation, which now marks the operation of Segarra-Garrigues and also of the Canal d'Urgell.
Since early February, the load test has allowed raising the stored volume to those 56 hm3. The technical objective of this process is to check the solidity of the work before the reservoir enters full service.
In his parliamentary response to Junts, the Minister of Agriculture, Òscar Ordeig, indicated that phase three of the filling plan is being completed until reaching a capacity of 56 hm3.
Òscar Ordeig places the final phase during next year
The official forecast is that the maneuver will not be reactivated before autumn. Even so, that next step will depend on the availability of water when the irrigation campaign ends in the system and in the Canal d'Urgell.
Sources from the CHE specified that the maneuver will resume in autumn if resources are available. They also recalled that a reservoir enters service upon completion of the load test, so L'Albagés is still within that preliminary process.
Ordeig added in the same response that during next year the fourth and final phase will be completed with the aim of reaching 80 hm3 of total capacity.