Comunitat General de Regants dels Canals d'Urgell

The Comunitat General de Regants dels Canals d'Urgell, formerly known as the Sindicat General de Regs del Canal d'Urgell, is a water users' association (comunitat de regants) that groups owners of irrigated estates and other water uses—supplies and hydroelectric plants—within the concession area of the Canal Principal d'Urgell, its four main ditches, and the Canal Auxiliar or Subcanal d'Urgell. It was founded in 1862 under the name Sindicat General de Regs del Canal d'Urgell to defend the interests of the so-called "país regant" (irrigating country) before the construction and concession company, the Sociedad Canal de Urgel. The infrastructure, after ninety-nine years, reverted to the State upon expiry of the concession, and today, more than 150 years after its creation, it continues to be administered by that first irrigation syndicate, now transformed into the Comunitat General de Regants dels Canals d'Urgell. Its headquarters are at the Casa Canal in Mollerussa (Lleida). The entity operates the canal system that irrigates a large part of the Urgell Plain, managing water allocation, maintenance, and modernization projects. It provides digital services to its members, including an electronic headquarters, online procedures, and a web application for consulting water shares ("hidros") and orders. The community is also involved in the modernization of the canals, co-financed by the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism under the PERTE for digitalization of the water cycle for irrigation. It maintains relationships with other water organizations such as CHEbro, ACA, FEREBRO, and FENACORE, and communicates with its members through newsletters and social media.

The Comunitat General de Regants dels Canals d'Urgell, originally named Sindicat General de Regs del Canal d'Urgell, was born in 1862 to defend the interests of the irrigating country before the Sociedad Canal de Urgel, the company that built and held the concession for the canal. The construction of the Canal d'Urgell took place between 1853 and 1861 by the Sociedad Canal de Urgel. The signing of the so-called Conveni de Madrid in 1862 between the company and the future irrigators regulated the flow of irrigation and the payment of a ninth of the fruits, launching the new irrigation system. Prior to the Conveni de Madrid, there was an agreement by the Barcelona businessman Jeroni Ferrer i Valls with the irrigators, who had obtained a provisional concession to build the Canal d'Urgell on 8 March 1850. This agreement was supported by notable landowners of the territory; it was signed by Ferrer i Valls himself, Francisco Pastoret, Domingo Santamaria, Domingo de Dalmau, Francisco Aldomá, Francisco Jover, Matias Casals, José Antonio Xammar, Magin Macià, Francisco Castellana, Felipe Culleré, and Felipe Gasol. It aimed to gather the necessary capital to obtain the definitive concession and carry out the works. It was agreed to build the canal by compensating the costs of expropriations of the canals and distribution ditches to the landowners through the issuance of shares called "d'indemnització" (indemnification), in addition to capital obtained from ordinary or "d'emissió" (issuance) shares contributed by capitalist partners. This way the company did not need such a large liquid capital, and the irrigators came to own part of the canal. On the other hand, it fixed a fee of one-ninth of the harvest as payment for enjoying irrigation, that is, a payment in kind instead of a monetary fee, thinking that in this way the impoverished peasants of the Urgell plain could accept it, which would allow the canal to move forward. The agreement was signed on 10 August 1852 and obtained 1600 adhesions from landowners. Ferrer i Valls, however, did not obtain the necessary financial support to start the works in time, and the provisional concession of the Canal d'Urgell was declared expired on 3 November 1852 in favor of the company Girona Hermanos, Clavé i Cia, which finally obtained the definitive concession for the construction of the canal under conditions similar to those proposed in the previous concession: to use the project and budget drafted by the engineer Pedro de Andrés y Puigdollers, and to have to sign an agreement with the irrigators to enjoy for 99 years the use in exchange for the payment of a fee, which in case no agreement was reached, would be subrogated in the "Conveni de Lleida"—the one signed by Mr. Ferrer i Valls—(points 5 and 6 of the concession decree), that is, through the collection of the ninth during the first sixty years from the start of irrigation. The new concession seemed to please everyone. The same company wrote on 12 November 1852 to the "gentlemen landowners and other interested parties in the irrigation of Urgell" that it had sufficient capital to undertake the work, the intention to create an Agricultural Bank with sufficient funds to advance money at a modest price to landowners and peasants interested in irrigation, and accepting the possibility of subrogating in the contract of Ferrer i Valls, because they believed it would facilitate the agreement with the future irrigators. Nine years later, about to finish the construction of the main canal, and in a hurry to start the construction of the ditches and begin the first irrigations, the governor of the province of Lleida convened the large landowners of the plain on 11 August 1861, in Tàrrega, to appoint a board of representatives to negotiate the fee or consideration for irrigation. The board was finally composed of Francisco Castellana of Tàrrega, Domingo Dalmau of les Borges Blanques, Leonardo Ferrer of Talladell, Antonio Segarra of Tarròs, Magí Macià of Boldú, Ramon Mestres and Ramon Siscar of Agramunt, Gerónimo Montiu of Cervera, Felipe Culleré of Mollerussa, José Antonio Xammar of Juneda, and Francisco Aldomà of Castelldans. Of these, Castellana, Dalmau, Macià, Culleré, Xammar, and Aldomà had signed the Ferrer i Valls agreement. The governor also requested the opinion of the Provincial Board of Agriculture, the provincial engineer, and the concessionary company. The result of those negotiations was transferred to the Cortes of Madrid, where the parties were brought to an agreement with a text based fundamentally on the articles of the Ferrer i Valls agreement, some of them copied literally, which was approved and signed by Pascual Madoz Ibañez, Laureano Figuerola Ballester, Manuel Safont i Lluch, Pedro Abades Soto, and Enrique del Pozo Aiguals, deputies to the Cortes in Madrid, Fernando Puig Gibert and Francisco Ferrer i Busquets representing the company, and by Ramon de Siscar Montoliu and Antonio Satorras Vilanova representing the irrigable country, on 17 February 1862: the so-called "Conveni de Madrid". It is incomprehensible how an agreement tailor-made for the irrigators had been accepted so easily by the concessionary company, as lamented by Domingo Cardenal, engineer in charge of the canal's construction, in a memoir. After ninety-nine years, the concession expired and the infrastructure reverted to the State. The Sindicat General de Regs del Canal d'Urgell transformed into the Comunitat General de Regants dels Canals d'Urgell, which continues to administer the canal system today, more than 150 years after its founding. The community has its domicile at the Casa Canal in Mollerussa (Lleida). In recent years, it has undertaken modernization and digitalization efforts, including the development of an electronic headquarters, online procedures, and a web application for consulting water shares and orders. The modernization of the canals is co-financed by the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism under the PERTE for digitalization of the water cycle for irrigation.

• 1862

  Conveni de Madrid signed on 17 February; Sindicat General de Regs del Canal d'Urgell founded.

• 1861

  Construction of Canal d'Urgell completed (1853–1861); governor of Lleida convenes landowners in Tàrrega on 11 August to negotiate irrigation fee.

• 1852

  Agreement between Ferrer i Valls and irrigators signed on 10 August, with 1600 adhesions; provisional concession declared expired on 3 November in favor of Girona Hermanos, Clavé i Cia.

• 1850

  Jeroni Ferrer i Valls obtains provisional concession to build the Canal d'Urgell (8 March).

• After 99 years, concession expires and infrastructure reverts to the State; Sindicat transforms into Comunitat General de Regants dels Canals d'Urgell.

Historic and legally established irrigation community managing a major Catalan canal network, focused on modernization and digitalization of water management.

Product categories. Irrigation water distribution · Water share management · Maintenance of canal infrastructure · Electronic administrative services

1. 1Canals d'Urgell official websitecanalsurgell.cat
2. 2Comunitat General de Regants dels Canals d'Urgell - Wikipedia (Catalan)ca.wikipedia.org
3. 3Sindicat general de regs del canal d'Urgell - Wikidatawikidata.org