FUENTE DE LA REJA

Asociacion Fuente de la Reja made out of citizens that in the last 20 years have been working on a project to restore an ancient irrigation and farming system developed by the Moors on a hillside where a spring in the center of the town.Despite the fact that the spring and reservoir and canals and gardens were the origin and had been the lifeline of the town for ages, several years ago the spring and reservoir went dry. The gardens were abandoned. Almost all the fruit trees, save a few straggly pomegranates and figs, died.The town is close to the much larger city of Jaen and in recent decades many weekenders built vacation country homes and unauthorized wells that depleted the groundwater supply. A group of concerned residents under La Fuente de la Reja Association came together to reverse this situation. And they succeeded After a long hard fight, they managed to have the wells closed. The spring recently began to flow again, the reservoir is full of water, several of the collapsed terrace walls have been rebuilt, and a handful of old-timers and educated youths are planting gardens and selling their surplus produce in the village square.