Less than 24 hours after the Mayor of San Fulgencio, José María Ballester, publicly denounced the danger posed by temporary concrete culverts placed over the La Reina drain, the structures have been cleared from the watercourse. Heavy machinery moved in early on Tuesday morning to lift out the four large concrete blocks. These blocks were intended to form the base of a temporary bridge providing access to the Clarios battery plant ahead of upcoming works on the N-332 road, which are designed to increase the capacity of several irrigation drains leading to the mouth of the Segura River.
A emergency meeting of the San Fulgencio Water Syndicate board had been scheduled for Wednesday to demand their removal, but the action is no longer necessary. Ballester, who publicly challenged the regional government and site engineers despite calls from party colleagues to tone down his criticism, expressed his satisfaction with the outcome.
On 30 October, Ballester sent a formal letter to the Director General for Water, Lourdes Pérez Berná, voicing serious concern over the access solution chosen for the industrial site. He argued that it drastically reduced the drainage capacity of the irrigation canal during periods of rainfall, even without heavy downpours. He warned that such an obstruction could cause the drain to overflow upstream. This posed a severe risk because the irrigation and drainage system from the traditional agricultural area runs underground through several streets in the centre of San Fulgencio.
Although the Director General visited the works on Monday to consult local irrigators without notifying the mayor, Ballester turned up at the site to press his case. The swift decision by the regional government to dismantle the culverts and associated embankments highlights the strong pressure applied by local residents. Local irrigators noted that alternative access routes exist for the facility, which employs hundreds of workers, primarily from neighbouring Guardamar.
Ballester emphasised that the wider project, involving an investment of more than 10 million euro, is essential to reduce the impact of torrential rain, particularly following the devastating consequences of the 2019 DANA storm. However, he maintained that temporary measures must be properly coordinated with local irrigators who understand the terrain.
During the 2019 floods at this point between Guardamar and San Fulgencio, water overflowed the embankment of the main road, which stands more than 1.5 metres above the agricultural land. The flooding forced the evacuation of the Alannia campsite and left thousands of hectares submerged for weeks. While San Fulgencio defended itself using sandbags, nearby municipalities such as Daya Vieja, Dolores and Almoradí suffered severe property damage.
The regional government is carrying out major engineering works so that several historic drainage channels merge into a larger canal near the final section of the Segura River. The importance of the scheme is reflected in its history: originally designed by the previous administration, the current government allocated the necessary budget and awarded the contract to state enterprise Tragsa.