CHMS

In February 2007, the Consejo de Ministros (Council of Ministers) passed Royal Decree 125/2007, thus creating the Miño-Limia and Norte hydrographic demarcations. On 22^nd February 2008, a further step was taken and Royal Decree 266/2008 was approved, thus modifying the Confederación Hidrográfica del Norte (Northern Hydrographic Confederation) and dividing it into the Confederación Hidrográfica del Miño–Sil (Miño-Sil Hydrographic Confederation) and the Confederación Hidrográfica del Cantábrico (Cantabrian Hydrographic Confederation). As a result of this amendment, the Miño-Limia and Norte hydrographic demarcations were renamed Miño-Sil and Cantábrica, respectively.

Thus, the Confederación Hidrográfica del Miño–Sil became the most recent one within those existing in Spain. As stated in the aforementioned Royal Decree, new confederations universally succeeded the Confederación Hidrográfica de Norte (CHN), particularly with regard to the assets, rights and obligations of the latter in their corresponding territories.

The CHN, called the Confederación Hidrográfica del Norte de España (Northern Spain Hydrographic Confederation) until 1989, was created by Decree 480/61 of 16^th March 1961 (PDF-800K). Its entry into operation was 35 years later than the first one, the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro (Ebro Hydrographic Confederation). Its history dates back to 1865, when the hydrological divisions of Santander and Ourense were set up.

At the time, the delay in the incorporation of the CHN was explained by the administrative and topographical complexity that characterizes the territorial area where it would exercise its powers. From the administrative point of view, the territory of the river basins that ended up joining this body belonged to fourteen different provinces: Navarra, Guipúzcoa, Álava, Vizcaya, Burgos, Santander, Palencia, Asturias, León, Zamora, Lugo, Ourense, A Coruña and Pontevedra. In addition, they were later integrated into six different autonomous regions: Navarra, País Vasco, Cantabria, Asturias, Castilla y León and Galicia. The administrative difficulties were thus intensified, as each of them tended to manage independently the part of the CHN territory that was located within its jurisdictional area. In fact, Galicia and the País Vasco were the first to control the basins of the rivers that ran through their autonomous territory.

Contrary to the original idea of organizing hydrographic confederations around a single large river, the Confederación Hidrográfica del Norte de España (CHNE) initially comprised more than 670 water courses that flowed into the sea. The most important of them was the one formed by the Miño-Sil river system, but from west to east, the following rivers also stood out: Limia, Lérez, Umia, Ulla, Tambre, Eume, and Mandeo, Mera, Sar, Landro, Eo, Navia, Esva, Nalón-Narcea, Sella, Deva-Cares, Nansa, Saja-Besaya, Pas, Miera, Asón, Agüera, Nervión-Ibaizábal, Deba, Urola, Oria, Urumea and Bidasoa.

Confederación Hidrográfica del Miño-Sil – CHMS

Address: Av. Buenos Aires, 23, 36400 O Porriño, Pontevedra

Telephone: +34 986 34 45 50

Email: contacto@chminosil.es

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