SureMap project: 2nd Technical visit in Madrid (July 2023 – by Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)

The Suremap’s meeting took place in Madrid at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, Alimentaria y de Biosistemas (ETSIAAB at the ‘Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) from July 4^th to 6^th, 2023. This is the oldest Spanish Agricultural School (Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, Alimentaria y de Biosistemas (upm.es). The greatest challenge for the ETSIAAB is training professionals who know how to feed the worldwide population while preserving the environmental assets: soil, water, and biodiversity. Its director welcome the participants at the Duomo and Prof. Leonor Rodríguez-Sinobas made a brief presentation on the academic degrees, facilities, and research areas of the school.

The ETSIAAB’s directo welcomes the participants at the Duomo

Participant’s after the ETSIAAB’s presentation 

As water resources become more stretched, the energy and food sectors’ dependence on water, and the fact that all three underpin several of the Sustainable Development Goals, means that decision-makers in all three domains are now increasingly focusing on water resource management and ecosystem protection. Within this framework, the Madrid’s meeting scheduled two two technical visits to highligh some ways of maintain agriculture sustainability.

In one of visits, the participants visited the pilot irrigation network, located at the experimental fields of the ETSIAAB, where they could see, on a small scale, the elements and management  for a the automation of an  collective pressure irrigation system. Likewise, they have the oportunity to talk with the researches working in the area of plant development and visited a greenhouse were Prof. Santiago Moreno explained its use as an storage place for plants in danger of extinction to show them to students and general public.

                            Visit to the greenhouse at the ETSIAAB

In the other visit, the participants went to  the  installation of the “green channel” fluvial Ecosystems at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Montes, Forestal  y Medio Natural of Madrid (ETSIMFM). Prof. Dolores Bejarano explained that the green chanel is intended to understand the underlying physical, biological, and chemical mechanisms that govern stream processes and their response to natural and human disturbances. This knowledge is critical to develop science-based approaches for managing and restoring the degraded rivers. The Green channel is a unique research facility that brings together river scientists, engineers, and managers to explore river water and sediment flows and aquatic and riparian riparian communities.

View of the works in the Green cannel https://www.upm.es/recursosidi/en/infraestructura/greenchannel/

Visit to the Green channel at the ETSIMFM

Since energy is becoming a key issue in collective pressure irrigation networks in countries such as Spain, were the cost of energy has increased more than 300 % since 2007, the meeting scheduled the seminar “Energy requirements in pressurized water supply networks” presented by Prof. Raúl Sánchez. It was highlighted that energy efficiency should be taking into account not only in the design network but in the irrigation practice.

View of the seminar.