No 979 Monday 10th - Sunday 16th July 2023
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SEE MAIN AD ON PAGE 13 rihuela Council is preparing a request that it will submit to UNESCO, proposing that the traditional irrigation system, that supplies water to many of the smallholders and farmers around the city, be declared a World Heritage Site.
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This was announced on Friday by the mayor Pepe Vegara, during a visit to the refurbishment works that are currently being carried out at the twin waterwheels, Moquita and Pando, in the rural district of Las Norias, said to be the jewel of Orihuela's thousand-year-old orchard. The mayor visited the site, along with the councillors of Historical Heritage and Agriculture, Matías Ruiz and Noelia Grao, and the Water Judge of the Private Court of Orihuela, José Bernabé.
B I D TO MAK E TWI N WATE RWH E E LS A U N E SCO WOR LD H E R ITAG E S ITE
Vegara said that "we must value everything that makes up our traditional irrigation system because it is an ancient system that, even after many hundreds of years, still provides us with the most efficient use of water." The mayor said that he considered the waterwheels "a unique work in Spain that we have to protect and to publicise", because "this environment is part of our culture, our history and our DNA. Water is part of our way of living.” He stressed the importance of this rehabilitation project that began in 2017, when the City Council had to sign an agreement with the Private Water Court by which the rights of the waterwheels were ceded for 30 years. The Councillor for Historical Heritage, Matías Ruiz, said that the twin waterwheels constitute "a unique asset". The objective, he continued, is "to create a link with the environment and with the city of Orihuela.”
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