View source for Case study:Environmental Restoration of the Lower Section of the Bembézar River and its River Environment (Phase 1)

{{Case study status
|Approval status=Draft
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{{Location
|Location=37.7906407, -5.221104500000024
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{{Project overview
|Status=In progress
|Project web site url=www.chguadalquivir.es/inicio
|Themes=Habitat and biodiversity, Land use management - forestry, Monitoring, Social benefits
|Country=Spain
|Main contact forename=Maria Jesus
|Main contact surname=Castañeda
|Contact organisation=Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation.  Ministry for Ecological Transition.
|Contact organisation url=www.chguadalquivir.es/inicio
|Multi-site=No
|Project picture=Guadalquivir.png
|Project summary=With the aim of reorienting development towards sustainability, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment has become aware of the importance of recovering the beds and banks of our rivers, and as a result has designed the National Strategy for Restoration of Rivers, a project that aims to recover river masses. It is a question of giving back to the river what was its own, its space, its vegetation, its water..., so that by itself it is capable of recovering its associated ecosystem. 
And following the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, approved in December 2000 and obligatory for the Spanish State, the objective is to ensure that rivers and streams recover their "good ecological status", and to make all administrative uses and actions compatible with the conservation of their natural values. The implementation of the National Strategy for the Restoration of Rivers is based on debate and consensus. We have sought the maximum participation of representatives of all entities of society to have the approval of all.
The objective of this project is the environmental restoration of the lower stretch of the Bembézar River and its surroundings, which also includes the final stretch of its tributary, the Guadalora stream and the Madre Vieja river corridor (the former arm of the Guadalquivir that joins the Bembézar).
The lower section of the Bembézar River is surrounded by extensive irrigated land that uses its waters through the hydraulic infrastructures created in its basin (reservoirs, canals and irrigation systems).  It is thus a heavily regulated river, with three reservoirs upstream of this stretch, so that the recovery of it to its natural state is unfeasible. On the other hand, it is affected by important infrastructures that cross its course. The AVE trains tracks limit the lower section to the north and half of the section is crossed by the Seville-Cordoba railway and the Seville-Cordoba road (A-431).
The project carries out actions to improve the natural environment through the cleaning of the riverbed and the restoration of autochthonous riverside vegetation; integration actions in a fluvial space, such as the construction of a pedestrian path and a footbridge over the river; and the conditioning of infrastructures for public use through the cleaning of vegetation from the existing Medieval Bridge in the Bembézar riverbed.
|Project title=Environmental Restoration of the Lower Section of the Bembézar River and its River Environment (Phase 1).
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{{Case study subcatchment
|Subcatchment=Guadalquivir River
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{{Site
|Name=Lower Section of Bembézar River and its Surroundings
|Heavily modified water body=No
|Protected species present=Yes
|Invasive species present=No
|Species=According to the Book of the Threatened Wild Flora of Andalusia, published by the Department of the Environment of the Regional Government of Andalusia (2000), reference is made to the hackberry tree (Celtis australis), catalogued as Vulnerable (Regional Government of Andalusia).   According to this same source, the hackberry tree does not meet any of the criteria for which it can be considered an endangered species, but it has ethnobotanical and timber importance. Specially since it is a marginal crop from historical agricultures, having archaeological importance as a bio-indicator of the presence of ancient or current roads, mills or irrigation ditches. Therefore, its wild populations in the region must be conserved, its presence valued in environmental impact projects, and the identification of forest formations and isolated individuals, valuing their function and meaning.
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{{Project background
|Project started=2019/01/08
|Works started=2019/12/16
|Total cost category=500 - 1000 k€
|Total1 cost=960.873
|Funding sources=Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation
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{{Motivations
|Hydromorphological quality elements=The hilly countryside seams very close to the riverbed causing an increase of river sinuosity as it passes by.
|Other motivation=social
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{{Measures
|Bank and bed modifications measure=Actions to improve the natural environment: Cleaning of the riverbed and the riverbank; Removal of dead vegetation and cleaning of rubbish.
|Floodplain / River corridor=Actions to improve the natural environment: Restoration of the autochthonous riverside vegetation in the sections in which the reedbed is present. It is responsible for the degradation of the autochthonous vegetation, in an area which should be a riverside forest with species closer to the ecological climax; Removal of ailanthus and other invasive exotic species.
|Social measures=Actions of integration in a river area: Construction of a pedestrian path 2 meters wide and 3,080 meters long along the riverside forest of the Bembézar River; Construction of a footbridge over the river and improvement of difficult passageways along the path. Improvement of infrastructures for public use: Cleaning of vegetation of the existing Medieval Bridge in the Bembézar riverbed.
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