The mayor of Benissa, Arturo Poquet, met a few days ago with the mayoress of Calpe, Ana Sala, and the councillor for the Environment, Pere Moll, to address the problems caused by the accumulation of reeds in the Barranco del Quisi ravine shared by both municipalities. This is a growing problem, given its impact during heavy downpours.
Last year, both municipalities jointly sent a letter to the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation to request that the necessary works be carried out to improve and guarantee safety at the crossing between the two municipalities at the Barranco del Quisi, where last year an officer of the Calpe Local Police died. In addition, both town councils installed a series of danger signs for speed bumps with water and promised to install fences in both directions in the event of a pre-emergency due to rain.
Now both Sala and Poquet are calling for the gully to be cleared of invasive reeds and are going further, committing themselves to work to renaturalise the gully with native plant species and to turn the gully into a greenway between the two towns, allowing for hiking and cycling routes.
The reed (Arundo donax) is a species that has been in the Mediterranean area for a long time, despite being native to Asia, and for some years now it has been spreading to such an extent that it is already considered an invasive exotic species that has replaced the native vegetation. The most advisable way to eradicate the reed is to encourage biological competition, i.e. to recover the native vegetation. To this end, it is proposed to plant elm, poplar, ash or willow trees and at the same time to apply solarisation techniques to eliminate the reeds.
Both administrations are committed to working together to present the appropriate technical reports to the Hydrographic Confederation to develop the project for the naturalisation of the Barranco del Quisi ravine and to link the two towns through a great greenway.