ARCHIVED - Environmentally hazardous eyesore on the Murcia-Alicante boundary finally eliminated at a cost of 6.5 million euros
Proambiente allowed 13,800 tons of leachates to contaminate the land between Abanilla and Orihuela
Over eight years since the regional government of Murcia detected unauthorized dumping in the area of La Solana, close to Abanilla and the boundary between the Region of Murcia and the province of Alicante, and six years since work to repair the environmental damage began, the project has finally been completed at a stated cost of just over 6.5 million euros.
In 2013 it was found that a dump run by the company Proambiente had been failing to treat and dispose of waste correctly and this had resulted in the leakage of 13,800 tons of leachates into the soil. Following this Proambiente was ordered to take steps to compensate for the environmental damage caused, and in April 2013 the company made a 3.3-million-euro deposit to guarantee a restoration plan. However, in 2018 the Murcia government has imposed a 1.47-million-euro fine on the company for its “repeated and serious” failure to comply with its obligations.
Since then, work on removing the leachates and sealing the tip has continued, and has now ended with the sealing of the pool known as “Vaso 0” at the Proambiente site having been completed. This last phase of the project began in November with a budget of just over a million euros and had been scheduled to end in May.
Vaso 0 occupies a surface area of 23,300 square metres while the whole site consists of almost 379,000 square metres, straddling the boundary between Murcia and Alicante. Vaso 0 has now been been covered with clay to a depth of 40 centimetres and then a further 70 centimetres of soil, topped off by 30 centimetres of compost into which seeds of native plant species have been planted. At the sites of the other pools, which have already been sealed off, work will be carried out where necessary to deal with minor landslides and subsidence in certain areas, many of which suffered damage during the disastrous “gota fría” storm of September 2019 and other episodes of heavy rain last year.
Image: CARM