ARCHIVED - Fears for the Mar Menor as the gota fría storm brings more runoff water into the lagoon

Activists warn that the lagoon is in danger as water quality deteriorates

The torrential rain which flooded parts of the Costa Cálida during the “gota fría” storm on Thursday and Friday is feared likely to bring with it the likelihood of a further deterioration in the water quality in the Mar Menor as water runs off into the lagoon, taking with it fertilizers and nitrates from the farmland of the Campo de Cartagena, while the Pacto por el Mar Menor platform group are warning that “the lagoon is becoming darker again”.

If the claim is correct – and official water quality data seem to point to it being feasible – it could herald the arrival of another episode of eutrophication similar to the one which turned the Mar Menor a greenish colour in 2016. Since then few measures have been implemented to prevent a recurrence of the “green soup”, although hopes for significant action have been raised by the national government’s approval last week of plans to achieve “zero runoff” into the lagoon.

At present the water in the Mar Menor is not green (although it can appear so in certain conditions, as the image from @MarMenorKO shows), but this does not mean it is in healthy condition. Colour is not the important thing in terms of water quality, more important parameters being transparency and the chlorophyll content, both of which have worsened over the summer.

In this context, there is great concern over how the “gota fría” will affect the Mar Menor. A detailed CHS map showing which parts of the Region of Murcia are susceptible to flooding shows with indisputable clarity how water falling on the crop fields of the Campo de Cartagena makes its way towards the lagoon, and in this context it is not surprising that the preparations for possible flooding were taken especially seriously in coastal towns such as San Javier and Los Alcázares, where the flooding in December 2016 was nothing short of catastrophic.

However, no amount of preparation would have been sufficient to prevent the floodwater from reaching the Mar Menor, even if it could be argued that flooding in built-up areas could be avoided by long-term planning, and when the floodwater recedes there will be great interest in the next water quality data.

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See full background information for the Murcia Gota Fria 2019