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article_detailDate Published: 08/09/2021ARCHIVED ARTICLEARCHIVED - Murcian government presents paperwork to undertake Mar Menor recovery projects
The regional government says that if the national government “does not want to contribute to the recovery of the Mar Menor” then it wants permission to do the job itself without the impediment of lack of competence
The platform fighting to gain juridic independence for the Mar Menor is holding a protest this Wednesday in front of the regional assembly in Cartagena as it continues its fight to secure further signatures for the petition calling for Congress to debate the proposal which it says is the only way to resolve the problems faced by the lagoon. The organisation has collected 325,000 signatures and requires 500,000.
Two weeks ago more than 15 tons of dead fish and rotting algal deposits were removed from the lagoon, the cause of death being pockets of anoxia which starved the fish of oxygen in the shallower areas of the lagoon, mainly on the beaches within the section that lies in the Cartagena municipality.
Since then, there has been a fierce battle of words underway between the regional and national governments, the regional authorities of Murcia attempting to dodge the blame being directed towards them by angry environmental protestors, who claim that the long-term neglect and indifference of the regional government has permitted the deterioration of the lagoon. The regional government has in turn accused the national government of inaction and of failing to give them the powers required to carry out necessary actions and of mismanaging the projects which are their responsibility, whilst the national government continues to insist that the regional government has all the powers it needs to act and has simply failed to do so.
In-between all of this is the agricultural sector attempting to deflect the blame directed towards the farmers who undeniably extracted and desalinated millions of litres of subterranean waters illegally, to which nitrates were added and then used to irrigate crops. The water run-off from this activity caused a massive algal bloom in the lagoon from which the eco-system has never fully recovered.
Although nobody is willing to accept the blame, there is absolutely no doubt that the flow of nitrate-laden waters into the lagoon, which continues to carry an estimated five million litres of water per day into the Mar Menor must stop before other preventative and corrective actions are undertaken, and although all parties concur that this is the reality of the situation, the political war of words about how to achieve this continues to rage.
The President of the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, has asked for full competence relating to the Rambla del Albujón, via which most of the water is entering the lagoon, to be ceded to the regional government, along with control of the waterways currently managed by the CHS and has requested full authorisation from the Costas department to be ‘permitted’ to clean the deposits of mud and sludge which have accumulated on some beaches.
The argument over who is responsible for the specific actions which must be undertaken has been debated endlessly by the different bodies involved, including the council of Cartagena, which has said several times that it will undertake to clean the mud from its beaches once the necessary environmental reports have been obtained.
This latest move from the regional government is undeniably a political smoke screen manoeuvre and the practical implications make it highly unlikely that any such request can be granted, but it’s part of the political blame-game being played out and the regional government has published a press note stating the official requests have been sent to the national government.
The regional government has specifically requested granting of competence to remove the mud and sludge (something the national government maintains it already has) as well as permission to undertake the project to build an additional de-nitrification plant to pump water out of the Rambla del Albujón the so-called ‘Colector Norte’ which was originally proposed within the Proyecto Vertido Cero passed during the last period of the national PP government, which has been completely ruled-out by the current national government as being a ‘pharonic project’ which is overly costly, impractical and unworkable.
The regional government maintains that ‘the only competent administration to be able to carry out these tasks is the central government’, hence the official request.
The press release concludes by saying: ‘The agreements, drawn up by the General Directorate of Water and the General Directorate of Mar Menor, respectively, must now be analysed by the Ministry and responded to as soon as possible to enable the signing of this agreement between both administrations and allow the start of the procedures for the development of the works, since if the Government of Spain does not want to contribute to the recovery of the Mar Menor, let us do it and, furthermore, as soon as possible.’
The national government does not accept that it ‘does not want to contribute to the recovery of the Mar Menor’ and continues to insist that it is fully committed, is engaged in a number of actions and is working with the regional government to resolve the issues.
The battle of words continues.
Click here for a more detailed analysis of how and why the Mar Menor has deteriorated in recent decades.
Image: Ayto. Cartagena. Archive
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