On the banks of the Ebro River, a two-kilometer pipeline system is making a difference in sustainable water management. Pina de Ebro (Zaragoza) has launched an innovative project that reuses irrigation water to supply a municipal forest of 70 hectares, avoiding extraction from the main canal and saving approximately 864 million liters annually, the equivalent of 345 Olympic-size swimming pools.
The initiative, a result of collaboration between the Pina de Ebro Irrigation Community, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and the environmental consulting firm Mediodes, redirects nutrient-rich drained water from the fields to a poplar forest. There, in addition to maintaining the forest cover, the roots filter out excess nutrients, improving the water quality before it returns to the river.
The secretary of the Irrigation Community, Pablo Subías Cabrera, emphasizes that the system «uses water twice: first for the crops and then for the trees,» while the mayor, Pablo Blanquet Abós, highlights the «landscape and environmental value» it brings to the municipality.
The project, which also protects against flooding and generates income through sustainable logging, is part of AWS’s global commitment to returning more water to communities than it consumes by 2030.
Additionally, it is one of five water replenishment initiatives that the company is promoting in Aragon, alongside leak detection programs and the use of artificial intelligence to optimize irrigation, with an investment of over 17 million euros.
