How can we measure the health of a river? Students from five European universities have taken part for the last few weeks in a European intensive program which, under the title River Management And Restoration in Atlantic Arc, has allowed them to do research into the environmental and preservation parameters of the mining area of Narcea.

The lecturers at the University of Oviedo, Eduardo Dopico and Eva García Vázquez, have coordinated the educational program in which students and lecturers at the University of Oporto, University College Cork (Ireland), Agrocampus Quest (France), INRA 8FRance) and the University of Oviedo itself collaborate.

The Rector of the University of Oviedo, Vicente Gotor, has given this morning the certificates to the 15 students in a ceremony held in the Auditorium and in which he was accompanied by the Director of the Internationalization Office, Leticia Santos, and the Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Tomás Emilio Díaz. The Major of Cangas del Narcea, José Luis Fontaniella, and the Town Councellor of Tourism, Mónica Díaz, were also present.

During the 19 days the students, staying at Cangas del Narcea, have chosen different samples in order to establish the quality degree in the basin. Likewise, the participants of the course have given special importance to social aspects in the restoration of the ecosystem and for this reason, they have carried out opinion polls and have had interviews with key people in the area, such as inhabitants, fishermen, politicians and technicians of the North Hydrographic Confederation or the Regional Ministry of Livestock Farming and Regional Natural resources.