The fight against invasive species costs at least 19 million euros annually to Spanish irrigation. Farmers in the areas of Badajoz and Mérida have been fighting for more than a decade against the plague of the Asian clam, an invasive species that they have only managed to partially control, according to Paco Sánchez, president of this irrigation community that captures water from the Lobón and Montijo canals, in the lower valley of the Guadiana river.
Sánchez explains that they began to observe, just over a decade ago, small shells that accumulated at the points where the canal sediments. Shortly after, these tiny shells were already blocking the filters of the pipelines that reach the agricultural farms.
In the last decade, the irrigators of Mérida spent between 800,000 and 850,000 euros out of their own pockets to keep the conduits clean and continue with their activity. This financial effort represents only a part of the total economic impact that invasive species cause to Spanish irrigation, estimated at at least 19 million euros per year.
