Environmental green light for drip irrigation of 115 hectares of plum trees in Villar del Pedroso

The General Directorate for Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy of the Ministry of Industry, Energy, Science, and Territory has issued a favorable environmental impact statement for the project to implement drip irrigation on 115.37 hectares of woody crops (plum trees) at the “Torrealbilla” estate, in the municipality of Villar del Pedroso (Cáceres). This is stated in the Resolution of August 12, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of Extremadura no. 161, of August 20, 2026, with reference 2026062164 and file IA24/2006. The project promoter is TXT Ingenierías, SL.

The action falls under group 1 “Agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, and livestock,” paragraph c) of Annex I of Royal Decree 445/2023, of June 13, which modifies the annexes of Law 21/2013 on environmental assessment, as it involves a transformation to irrigation affecting more than 100 hectares. The statement is issued prior to the administrative resolution authorizing the works, in accordance with Law 16/2015, of April 23, on environmental protection of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura.

Irrigation supplied from the Tagus River

The objective of the project is the irrigation of plum trees with a planting frame of 5 x 3.5 meters, using a surface drip irrigation system distributed across 20 sectors. Water is captured from the Tagus River through two submersible pumps of 59 kW each, and the water concession is being processed by the Tagus Hydrographic Confederation under file number C-0022/2024.

The system includes two storage ponds:

• Lower pond, existing, with a volume at maximum normal level of 10,282 m³, waterproofed with HDPE liner and geotextile.
• Upper pond, new construction, with a capacity of 35,062 m³, equivalent to 5.60 days of the maximum demand in July, from which the entire estate is irrigated by gravity.
• Main, secondary, and tertiary pipeline network in PVC, with self-compensating drippers of 1.60 l/h.
• Electrical power for the capture pumps via an isolated photovoltaic installation of approximately 250 kWp, while the re-pumping will be connected to the Iberdrola distribution network.

Processing and consultations with administrations

The environmental impact study was submitted for public information via an announcement published in DOE no. 54, of March 19, 2025, and no objections were received. Simultaneously, thirteen affected public administrations were consulted, including the Tagus Hydrographic Confederation, the State Road Demarcation in Extremadura, the Nature Conservation and Protected Areas Service, and the General Directorate of Libraries, Archives, and Cultural Heritage.

The reports conclude that the action is not likely to significantly affect the Natura 2000 Network, although it borders to the north the SPA “Embalse de Valdecañas” (ES0000329), nor the water bodies, provided that the preventive, corrective, and compensatory measures set out in the resolution are complied with. These include the preservation of local vernacular architecture, archaeological control of earthworks, and compatibility with the “Cañada Real Leonesa” livestock route.

Validity and scope

The environmental impact statement will lose its validity if the execution of the project does not begin within four years of its publication in the Official Gazette of Extremadura. The document, signed by the general director Juan Eloy Rodríguez Ucedo, is issued for environmental purposes only, without prejudice to other required authorizations, and may not be subject to an independent appeal.

The resolution represents a key step for the agricultural development of the Villar del Pedroso region, by allowing the modernization and consolidation of 115.37 hectares of plum irrigation with an efficient drip and solar pumping system, within a context of increasing attention to the sustainable management of the water resources of the Tagus basin.

Source: Official Gazette of Extremadura, no. 161, August 20, 2026, section III, page 1 (official reference: 2026062164, file IA24/2006).