The magazine Alegría de Monzón features Eugenio Nadal’s perspective on the 100th anniversary of the Confederations

The centenary of the Hydrographic Confederations adds a local perspective from Cinca Medio. The Alegría de Monzón y Cinca Medio magazine publishes in its 115th issue, corresponding to July 2026, the column The hydrographic confederations turn 100 years old, written by Eugenio Nadal Reimat in the From Civil Society section. The text starts from the gala held on June 11 in Madrid, presided over by Felipe VI, to recall that the bodies created in 1926 were a pioneering formula for managing water from the river basin unit.

The interest of the article goes beyond the institutional commemoration. Nadal places the origin of the Confederations in the regenerationist culture of Joaquín Costa and the drive of Rafael Benjumea and Manuel Lorenzo Pardo. From there, he explains a continuity that reaches the Water Framework Directive and current challenges: planning, good water status, environmental recovery of rivers, and guaranteed supplies.

For the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro, the authorship has a special resonance. Nadal presided over the Confederation during a key stage of administrative transition and territorial participation. In the book Through the Ebro Basin. 1926-2026 Centenary of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro, within the chapter Leading the CHE, he recalls that he was “the last Government delegate and the first president of the organization“, and recounts the move towards a model with new executive functions and greater integration of autonomous communities, users, and technical services.

The link with Monzón gives this news a particularly local echo. The Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro has an office in the city, at Barón de Eroles, 25, and the area is linked to the Aragón and Catalonia Canal, a decisive system for irrigation and supply in the northeast of the basin. The Nuestra Señora de la Alegría Irrigation Community of

Monzón belongs to that system and is supplied through the Zaidín Canal and the San Sebastián Irrigation Ditch. Furthermore, the old Museum of the Aragón and Catalonia Canal preserved objects, documents, and photographs for years at the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro facilities on Paseo Barón de Eroles, before their transfer to the Canal Thematic Center and the Costa Legacy. This combination of office, archive, control, and water culture explains why the perspective of a local magazine holds singular value here.

In his column, Nadal summarizes the change of cycle with a particularly clear phrase: “Times change and the Confederations do too”. And he closes by wishing long life to these organizations, with a mention of the Ebro as the “older sister by reason of birth”.

Since the Centenary, the appearance of this column in Alegría confirms that the history of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro does not only live in major events or official publications: it is also in the places that have organized their lives around water, such as Monzón, Cinca Medio, and the Aragón and Catalonia Canal.

News article based on the column “The hydrographic confederations turn 100 years old”, published in the magazine Alegría de Monzón y Cinca Medio, issue 115, July 2026, page 44, “From Civil Society” section, signed by Eugenio Nadal Reimat. Edited by Alegría de Monzón y Cinca Medio S.L.; editor-in-chief: Amanda Compañet Querol.