The Orbeldi Ur Bizi Kanala Elkartea Association, established by the Basque Government and the Guipuzcoan Canoeing Federation, has presented to the Hydrographic Confederation … from the Cantabrian Sea the request for “the use of a maximum instantaneous flow of 12 cubic meters per second in the Orio River at the Orbeldi dam, in Usurbil, for the sport of canoeing.” This is how the petition appears in the Official State Gazette dated last Thursday the 9th.
In practice, it is the first step in the construction of the whitewater channel that the Basque institutions promised in the heat of the silver medal won by Maialen Chourraut in Tokyo 2021 and about which there was still no news. Specifically, it was Bingen Zupiria, then advisor of culture and linguistic policy of the Basque Government, who announced the possibility of having a channel in Euskadi within a maximum period of two years. It took four for anything to move.
Once Orbeldi’s request has been registered, a period of one month opens for the petitioner to present a project for the use of the waters to the Cantabrian Hydrographic Confederation. During this time other requests that have the same object will be accepted. However, any request that involves the use of a flow greater than double that contained in the initial request will be denied.
Environmental impact plan
In June 2024, Goizane Álvarez, provincial deputy for Sports, explained in General Meetings to a question about the issue from PP member Mikel Lezama, that until the Hydrographic Confederation approved the environmental impact plan, the project could not start. “As long as this step is not taken, it will not be possible to tender or continue moving forward,” he stated. As this newspaper has learned, this environmental file is in the process of being approved after several modifications. The deadlines that the institutions manage are for it to be a reality in mid-2026 and, from there, the works could start within a period of three months.
The Orbeldi company, established by the Basque Government and the Guipuzcoan Federation, is responsible for putting the necessary procedures and requirements on track until the first stone is laid. Álvarez recalled a year ago that there was a first item of 50,000 euros in the 2024 Budget project for the new channel out of the total of 1.5 million that the Provincial Council plans to provide, always with the financial support of the Basque Government.
In the ‘Canal Maialen Chourraut’, as it will be named in honor of the best Basque canoeist in history, a base school will be created for the initiation and training of lower categories and its use will also be dedicated to leisure and recreation. Regarding its technical characteristics, it will have a negative slope of 1.4%, so in the 200 meters there will be a 2.8 meter gradient. The artificial channel will have modular obstacles, so the circuit can be modified.
The Urdaiaga neighborhood of Usurbil was chosen for its construction because the Oria reaches there with a lot of flow, so a pumping system will not be necessary. This will avoid a significant cost of electricity and the water channeling is very advanced in the area. Gravitational water will be used, which makes it unnecessary to move it from top to bottom.
