Date Published: 27/08/2021
ARCHIVED - Murcia government submits formal request for control of water bodies in the region
ARCHIVED ARTICLE The Murcia government has opted for a lengthy process to gain control of all water sources in the region, which is likely to be denied by the national government
At the first government council meeting since the Mar Menor eco-disaster,
which has left thousands of fish and other marine species dead on Thursday, the lagoon was the main focus of conversation, the principal conclusion of the meeting being that the regional government of Murcia announced its intention to formally request control of all superficial and subterranean water sources in the Region of Murcia.
This would give the regional government management of all channels, aquifers and groundwater, which is currently managed by the Segura Hydraulic Confederation (CHS), allowing them to control all of the water which flows into the Mar Menor, including the rambla del Albujón and the Cartagena aquifer which lies beneath the Campo de Cartagena.
The rambla del Albujón continues to pour millions of litres of nitrate-laden water into the lagoon every day( 5 million litres a day is the figure given by the regional president this week) and the
regional government points towards this being the main cause of the current catastrophe affecting the Mar Menor, as the water contains traces of nitrate fertilizers which have been applied to the soil in irrigation water, which in turn has leached through and into the Mar Menor via drainage channels in water run-off and have been recognised as the principal cause of the algal blooms experienced since 2016.
However, this request is not as straight forward as it may seem and is not likely to be approved by the Spanish government, as the CHS, currently in charge of the water sources, is a government body which answers to both the European Union and the national government.
In addition, the process to formally submit the request is long and complicated, involving several different Ministries, including the Ministry of Territorial Politics and the Ministry of Ecological Transition, and requiring the formation of a Mixed Commission to decide the technicalities of the concession, if it were to go ahead.
Given the criticism of the Murcian regional government for failing to act against the agricultural sector which has been illegally extracting water from the Cartagena aquifer through illegal boreholes for decades, the regional government is unlikely to be able to adequately justify that it is better qualified than the CHS to manage these resources;
this week the Spanish government refused to classify the Mar Menor as being a "catastrophe zone" saying that the problems were "not the consequence of a day or a weekend" but were the failing of the Murcian government over a number of years.
During a visit to La Manga this week, the national Minister of Ecological Transition met with the SOS Mar Menor Platform, local mayors, environmentalists and the regional premier, proposing that the regional government act within the competence it already has to create a “green ring” around the Mar Menor and prevent any further nitrate use.
The regional government has now passed its decree banning the use of nitrate fertilizers
in Zone 1 of the Mar Menor, but no sanctions have yet been applied to any of the cases brought against the agriculturalists who have illegally drilled and irrigated in the Campo de Cartagena.
In September 2019, the Gota Fría storm caused huge quantities of mud and water to end up in the Mar Menor and there are concerns that another storm of this magnitude would cause irreversible damage to the already fragile ecosystem in the lagoon.
The problems facing the Mar Menor are very complex. CLICK HERE to find out more (full background doc. in English).