1926 – 2026
The Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro echoes the issue of the stamp “Water. Basin management: the strength of an idea”, presented by Correos as part of the commemorative programming for the centenary of the hydrographic confederations. The piece recalls the origin of the Spanish basin management model and the figure of Manuel Lorenzo Pardo, promoter of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro in 1926.
06/07/2026
Correos has issued the stamp “Water. Basin management: the strength of an idea”, a philatelic piece dedicated to the centenary of the creation of the hydrographic confederations and the model of water management by basins. The issue, dated July 6, 2026, pays tribute to an idea that transformed hydraulic administration in Spain and which saw its first development in the Ebro basin.
The Correos philatelic page places the origin of this way of understanding water in the creation of the hydrographic confederations one hundred years ago. It also identifies Manuel Lorenzo Pardo (1881-1953) as the main architect of this proposal, based on managing water according to the natural limits of river basins rather than political or administrative borders.
The stamp recalls that, under this premise, Lorenzo Pardo promoted the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro in 1926, considered the first basin authority in the world and the origin of the current Spanish model of water management by hydrographic basins. This interpretation connects directly with the narrative of the CHE Centenary and the institutional history of the confederations.
The MITERD has recalled in its commemorative program that on March 5, 1926, two royal decrees led to the creation of the Hydrographic Syndical Confederations and the constitution of the first of them in the Ebro basin. That approach introduced a management system based on the natural unity of the basin and the participation of users in decision-making.
The composition of the stamp integrates a geometric illustration of Manuel Lorenzo Pardo’s face over a historical cartography: the original map of the Ebro Reservoir project, designed by Lorenzo Pardo himself in 1915. The design also incorporates the silhouette of the nine hydrographic confederations over peninsular Spain and the official logo of the centenary of the Hydrographic Confederations 1926-2026.
The issue joins other actions commemorating this Centenary, including the institutional gala of the centenary of the hydrographic confederations held in Madrid, in which the CHE participated, and the set of educational, cultural, and technical activities developed during 2026.
A century after that first organization by basins, the nine current hydrographic confederations maintain functions of hydrological planning, management and protection of the public hydraulic domain, water quality control, monitoring of extreme phenomena, and coordination with the various actors linked to the territory.
From the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro, this philatelic issue is received as a recognition of the role of the Ebro basin in the origin of a way of managing water that today remains an institutional, technical, and territorial reference.
