Date Published: 15/05/2020

Murcia Today weekly bulletin 15th May 2020

As is to be expected the principal news stories continue to revolve around the Covid crisis this week following a first week in phase 1 de-escalation.

It's been an interesting week as the first indications emerge that allowing de-escalation inevitably leads to fluctuations in the number of cases reported, that there's no room for complacency and that continued vigilance is essential to stay safe.

Our governments are in an impossible position; under intense pressure from the public to relax restrictions and allow greater liberty; from the business sector desperate to recover some of the financial losses sustained during the last two months; from the tourist sector panicking about the projected losses they will face as it becomes increasingly obvious that international travel will be restricted this summer and from their own politicians concerned that by succumbing to the pressure from all of the above that the final price we will pay can only be counted in lost lives, as all of us know full well that every contact increases the chance of contagion. It's an impossible dilemma when the currency is human lives.

This week we've also produced a special round-up relating to the complicated topic of the Mar Menor, bringing together the developments of the last two weeks in the first exclusive for those who have enabled Murcia Today to continue through their decision to support the bulletin. Thank you very much and we hope that those of you affected by this ongoing situation find it informative.

So, to begin; The daily figures

Spain

A week ago on Friday 8th May the Spanish Health Ministry reported a total of 222,857 cases. A week later the figure is 230,183 cases (confirmed by PCR testing), so a rise of 7,326 new cases this week, compared to 7,641 new cases the previous week, a disappointingly slight fall and an unwelcome indicator that the virus is far from beaten in Spain.

The fatalities now number 27,459 as opposed to 26,299 last week ( a rise of 1160 this week as opposed to 1475 last week, but considerably less than the 2300 of the previous week). The number of deaths has declined slowly this week, the figure for Friday being 138, but Spain seems unable to shake off the virus and in spite of all the measures implemented, these new cases continue to boost the figures.

The number of recovered patients has now risen to 144,783 leaving just over 57,000 active cases across Spain.

The graph shows the current situation in the 17 autonomous comunities of Spain, the new cases all grouped into Cataluña, Madrid, Castilla y León, Castilla La Mancha and the Basque Country. Elsewhere the figures are all relatively low.

However, on Wednesday concerns were raised about the increase in the number of children showing symptoms since the de-escalation phase zero began and children were permitted to exercise for one hour daily, or accompany a parent during essential tasks.

The Health Ministry makes detailed information available daily, and provides data by age group and sex as well as location and the figures do show that the number of cases in the two age groups covering young people aged 0 to 9 and 10 to 19 have increased in these age groups more than in any other group during the last two weeks. On average, new cases of which the age is known increased by 21.8% between April 26th and May 12th, but this increase was 35.3% in children under 10 and 40.9% in those aged 10 to 19.None of the other age bands for which data is provided showed such a large increase.

This same pattern is repeated in hospital admissions and intensive care units. There are obviously concerns that the number of cases in all age groups will rise following the initiation of the de-escalation process, and the public is being continuously urged by politicians at all levels to exercise caution when leaving their homes.

Region of Murcia

Murcia remains at the bottom of the league table for mainland Spain with the lowest number of confirmed cases, the lowest number of deaths, the lowest percentage increase in the number of cases and the lowest number of cases per head of population.

Number of fatalities: 142; 5 new deaths this week, the same as last week

Number of recoveries: 1998 ; 336 new recoveries this week

Number of active cases: 297

Murcia has 32 patients hospitalised, with 12 in intensive care.

Active cases by municipality:

Only twelve of the 45 municipalities in the Region of Murcia now have active cases

The bulk of the cases are centred in the main cities, along the Vega del Segura and in the north and north-west, none of the main areas of concentration being around the Mar Menor or on the coast.

Murcia municipality (includes Corvera, Sucina, Gea y Truyols as well as the main urban city): 133
Cartagena municipality (includes Los Belones, Cabo de Palos as well as La Azohía, Tallante, Molinos Marfagones etc): 47
Molina de Segura: 12
Yecla: 9
Santomera: 23
Abanilla: 12
Lorca: 11
Cieza: 11
Calasparra: 7
Alcantarilla : 5
Jumilla: 8
Fortuna: 6

However, on Friday Totana announced that there had been a new outbreak in the municipality, with four agricultural workers confirmed as having positive cases. All four had been in the same minibus travelling to work in various fincas. As a result, 45 people directly linked to the four people who have been in close contact with them have been placed in quarantine in the municipality. In a video broadcast the mayor blamed "the hurry" to move into phase 1 for this "worrying situation".

1.4 percent of Murcia region is believed to have contracted Covid-19.This is way below the national average of 5% and accounting for 2 million people across Spain
The first results of a national study aiming to ascertain if 5% of the Spanish population has had contact with the Covid-19 virus have been published by the Carlos III Institute of Health in Madrid, confirming that this is indeed the case and that in spite of only 228,691 officially tested cases being reported, " the study does verify that 5 percent of the Spanish population nationwide has had contact with the virus, that is, just over two million people," (in other words, an estimated 2 million have actually had Covid-19 in Spain) according to the Ministry of Health.The Carlos III seroprevalence macro-study started on April 27th and plans to study the potential of herd immunity in 90,000 Spanish citizens, of whom 3,237 are from the Region of Murcia.
Murcia is the mainland region with the lowest prevalence of the virus, (1.4%, around 20,000 people) and although this could be viewed as a positive figure, it also suggests that the Murcian population is less protected and immunized against a secondary coronavirus outbreak, so vigilance must be maintained. The regional government has today requested financial aid from the EU to help protect its population as we are now considered to be particularly vulnerable to a second wave!

In reality, nine out of ten cases not only in the Murcia region but also nationwide are undetected due to the lack of tester kits and resources to carry out PCR swab tests, although this week the Health Ministry made it absolutely clear that the government sees little gain in testing the entire population and that to do so is not viewed as a realistic proposition. The study confirms that only around 10% of cases are diagnosed and that Spain is far from achieving herd immunity, which requires around 60 percent of the population to have Covid antibodies in their blood.Click for the whole article

Murcia Today weekly bulletin 15th May 2020

On Monday Murcia moved into phase 1 of the de-escalation process as part of only 51% of Spain permitted to do so.

Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Navarra, Aragon, Extremadura, Murcia, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla all passed completely to phase 1, but the decision was taken at the weekend to limit the progression of areas in which either the number of cases was considered to be too high, or there had been a recent increase in the number of new cases declared. These areas will remain at phase zero pending review. This includes part of Cataluña, the Valencia Region, as well as six provinces within Andalucía. and almost all of Castilla y León.

As of today the government is considering allowing Madrid and Barcelona to move into a phase now known as “0.5” which didn´t exist earlier in the week but has now been created to allow partial economic re-activation; retail shops will be allowed to open but bars and restaurants will not and gatherings will not be permitted as in phase 1. Areas of Castilla y León are also hoping to move to a similar position. Castilla-La Mancha hopes that Toledo , Albacete and Ciudad Real can join Cuenca and Guadalajara this week, Andalucia has requested that Malaga and Granada can join the rest of the region in phase 1 and and the Valencian region has requested all three of its provinces fully join phase 1. This week has been difficult for residents of the Alicante province, with some health areas such as Torrevieja and Orihuela in phase 1, and neighbouring areas left behind in phase zero. Final decisions will be announced at the weekend.

Although all of this may seem rather uninteresting it will be very important as Spain approaches the end of the de-escalation process as it will affect the ability of residents to move around within the country.

The original four-phase plan should theoretically conclude on the 22nd June, at which point residents will be permitted to freely move around Spain once again, but if some areas are still stuck in phase 2 for example, this will prevent free movement. This becomes important, for example, for property owners in Madrid wanting to escape the rising temperatures in the capital and head for their holiday homes in Murcia, Galicia or Andalucía; if Madrid has not completed its phase 3, its residents will have to stay in Madrid!

It will also complicate more local movement; golfers from coastal areas of Alicante have already been on the phone this week asking when they will be allowed to slip across into Murcia and play some of our excellent courses; the answer is that unless the Valencia region is allowed to progress into phase 1 this week, then it won´t be until July! Bad luck boys!

Golf courses are now open, so if you haven´t yet booked then click here to see the full information about how golf courses will operate for the remainder of the state of emergency.

It was also bad luck for another emailer this week, an entertainer wanting to know if she would be allowed to drive across to Orihuela to do a gig from Murcia; sorry, booking cancelled until July is the answer to that one!

This weekend police have announced that they will be increasing traffic roadblocks at strategic “crossing points” between provinces to prevent “slipping across the border”.

They’re also mounting increased police operations in town centres this weekend following a number of incidents on Monday evening when bars were allowed to open and city centres were packed with mainly young people catching up with their friends in order to avoid a repetition.

Mayors angered by the scenes of crowded streets have threatened to close bars and restaurants in their municipalities again if residents don´t respect social distancing. Click to read the report and see video footage of what happened in Cartagena on Monday evening.

Presumably, readers are fully aware of what they can and can´t do in phase 1 by now. If you’re unsure, click this link which takes you through to a detailed document covering all of the following topics;

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE REGION

TRAVEL BY CAR

GATHERINGS OF 10 PEOPLE

SECOND RESIDENCES, HOTELS AND APARTMENTS

BARS AND RESTAURANTS ALLOWED TO OPEN OUTDOOR TERRACES

SHOPS AND GARDEN CENTRES

STREET MARKETS

ITV CENTRES

BURIALS AND PLACES OF WORSHIP

SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES

LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

SHOWS

SPORT

BEACHES

SWIMMING POOLS

EXERCISING

LOCKDOWN CONTINUES

As part of the gradual resumption of normal services, medical consultorios are starting to re-open progressively. Surgeries were originally closed throughout the Murcia Region from March 17th onwards in order to focus resources and minimise the risk for health service professionals but with the number of cases continuing to fall the decision has now been taken to begin the process of re-opening the consultorios on a gradual basis.Click this link here if you want to see a list of the openings this week.

Shops re-opened cautiously on Monday:

ATA, the federation representing self-employed workers, estimated that around 60% of retailers with less than 400 square metres of sales area opened on Monday and the unions representing retail employees estimate that up to 25,000 of their members were able to resume work. The CCOO union said that between 10 and 15,000 employees who were given temporary redundancy notices will have resumed work this week but many retailers and bars have opted to wait a little longer before re-opening due to the cost of installing protective equipment, and cleaning and staffing their premises, their opinion being that the limits placed on the number of clients allowed in their premises renders their businesses inviable.

Stores with a larger capacity must wait until the 25th May, a delay that the smaller businesses hope will grant them a head start as they attempt to recover some of their losses.

As the week went on though, a row broke out about the topic of sales as the original BOE text published indicated that the government had agreed to the recommendations of the UPTA union requesting that summer sales be prohibited to reduce the risk of overcrowding and give small shops a chance to clear some of their stock before the big chains are able to open. During the week the row continued over whether the government had prohibited sales or issued a guideline; at the moment it appears sale stock can only be cleared online. Click for the full story

Travel: This became the hot topic of the week and has been the subject of most of the subsequent content.

Quarantine; from May 15th it will be compulsory for anyone coming into Spain to undertake a 14-day self quarantine period.

During this quarantine period, travellers arriving in Spain must remain inside their home or accommodation and must limit their travel to the acquisition of food, pharmaceuticals and basic necessities, visiting a doctor or contracting essential services. The use of a mask when leaving home will be mandatory.Click for full article

The same conditions will apply for these new arrivals as for those who are showing symptoms of Covid-19, so individuals will not be allowed to exercise or eat out in a restaurant etc.

During this quarantine period the health authorities may contact quarantined individuals to check that they are not exhibiting any symptoms of Covid-19. Should symptoms such as fever, cough, respiratory distress, general discomfort or other symptoms of a suspected case of Covid-19 appear, people in quarantine "should contact the health services by telephone using the numbers provided by their respective regional health authority and indicate that they are in quarantine after arriving from abroad, "says the Order.

The impracticalities of actually enforcing this order have been widely and brutally pointed out by the Spanish media this week, but this is the rule and is re-enforced by the obligation of health professionals tasked with calling those who should be observing the quarantine to check that they are doing so and that they are showing no symptoms, to inform the authorities should the individual concerned be breaking the rules. Many fines have already been issued to quarantine breakers.

This logically leads to this story: Health services obliged to notify Ministry of Health of all suspected cases of Covid-19; Data is being compiled to help identify and track Covid cases. On Tuesday the Ministry of Health published an order for the health authorities of the Autonomous Communities to identify "unequivocally" citizens who are infected or are suspected of having COVID-19 "to support the health authority with the best available evidence to effectively lead and confront the response to this crisis."

"... It is necessary to adapt and strengthen the information systems for epidemiological follow-up and surveillance, so that early detection of any case that may have an active infection and, therefore, can transmit the disease is detected," it states.The autonomous communities are obliged to communicate this information to "all the centers, services and sanitary and socio-sanitary establishments, both in the public and private sectors, as well as to the health professionals who work in them", who must submit to the Ministry of Health "all the data necessary for monitoring and epidemiological surveillance of COVID-19, "including" the data necessary to unequivocally identify citizens. "

The order reminds health authorities that coronavirus is an "urgent notifiable disease".

This is part of a larger European-wide initiative to record and track Covid data, particularly given the probability that there may be a “second wave” in the autumn or at some time in the future.

Expat readers immediately assumed that the quarantine imposition meant they were able to come on holiday but would be put into quarantine, but another order was issued also on Tuesday, but updated on Friday which puts pay to any such notion as Spain has also decreed that the closure of its borders to non-essential travellers will be extended.

On Tuesday the closure of EU borders was extended to 24th May but on Friday another order in the BOE extended restrictions for non-essential international travellers to 15th June. Click to read

This limits entry into Spain ONLY to those with residency, returning to their principal residence. EU nationals and those living within the Schengen area are allowed to transit Spain returning to their principal residence and those involved in commercial delivery work, health service or diplomatic work may enter, but NOT holidaymakers.

It's a brutal blow for not only those who habitually holiday in Spain or come to a second property here, but also those who are “trapped between two countries” at the moment.

The Ministry stresses that the progressive lifting of confinement within Spain "will reasonably entail that people residing abroad decide to travel to our country, contradicting the internal mobility limitations."

"This measure is considered proportionate to the gravity of the situation and consistent with the maintenance of the controls re-established at internal borders by a significant number of Member States of the European Union."

Although UK nationals who habitually reside in Spain (or are planning to retire to homes they already own in the near future) have had plenty of warning throughout the Brexit negotiations that they must obtain residency if they wish to stay in Spain after Brexit, many have failed to do so and as a result there are families divided all over the place and a large number of Brits “trapped” in the UK, unable to get back to Spain.

The other problem is for all those who had purchased property in Spain with the intention of re-locating, having sold their home in the UK. Unable to enter Spain they have moved into temporary accommodation believing that the “pandemic would be over” a little sooner and have now found that they are not allowed to move to Spain at the moment, so are effectively stuck in “no man’s land”.

Several readers have been in contact asking for help, but there is no option other than to wait until the government lifts these restrictions and allows them to enter. As the Ministry said today, "the mere fact that a home is owned in Spain does not automatically give the right to residency in Spain”.

Ryanair….again: Will Ryanair be able to fly to Spain even though it wants to?

This week Ryanair announced plans to restore 40% of flight schedules from July 1st on 90 percent of its route network, some of which will be scheduled for Spain. Visitors to its webpage can book flights into Alicante, Madrid, Barcelona and other destinations, but is it realistic to expect that flights to Spain will be able to operate as planned given the current evolution of the Covid-19 virus worldwide and the restrictions currently being announced by the Spanish government?

Given the evolution of the virus here in Spain, for which the figures have been provided above, and the number of cases in the UK which are still active, is it realistic that movement will be permitted between countries by that date?

The airline said in its press statement this would be subject to governments lifting travel bans within the EU, and public health measures being put in place in airports.

It's a canny move by the airline as new bookings will contribute to improving its cashflow, but the big problem facing passengers who currently have vouchers which can be redeemed against new flights and those looking at booking a summer holiday or a visit to family members living here in Spain is whether the flights now being advertised on the companies’ webpage will actually be available when the advertised dates arrive.

The company has received a lambasting from passengers this spring following the decision to issue vouchers instead of refunds for passengers whose flights were cancelled during the Covid crisis, many of whom now face difficult decisions about whether to book one of the newly-announced summer flights or not.

But for Ryanair it’s a win win situation; book a flight, pay for it, and if it’s cancelled the airline can issue a voucher, thus improving its cashflow……….

We have written an extensive article looking at the possible factors which might help those attempting to decide whether to book one of these flights to do so. Click here to read it, although apologies in advance; there are NO definitive answers as so much remains subject to the evolution of the virus.

Passengers through Spanish airports dropped by 99.4 percent in April:Corvera airport only handled 22 passengers in the whole month and Alicante was 99.8% down!

The true extent of the lockdown effect caused by the Covid-19 virus can be seen in the traffic figures for the network of Spanish airports run by operator Aena for April 2020, which showed a 99.4% drop when compared to the same month in 2019.

Only 141,014 passengers passed through all of the principal airports in Spain during the month of April, compared to 23 million in the same month last year, a sign of the virtual cessation of activity caused by the Covid virus. At the moment the standstill looks set to continue throughout May and into the first half of June. Click to read the whole article.

Street markets

Slowly, slowly street markets are re-opening, albeit with a maximum of 25% of the stalls and with strict hygiene measures in place.

Some councils have published nothing about their markets, and others have.

Weekly markets open again in Los Alcázares and San Pedro del Pinatar; Click for article

Águilas, Lorca, Puerto Lumbreras, Mazarrón re-open weekly street markets; Click for article

Murcia city vendors do a U-turn and will re-open their markets from 18th May with 25% capacity.

Other news:

Bathing jetties in Los Urrutias, Punta Brava and Estrella del Mar await final seal of approval: It’s taken more than three years to complete the bureaucratic paper trail required by this project:

A project which has been more than three years in the making is finally reaching the end of the bureaucratic processes which can slow down apparently simple initiatives to improve the facilities available for the public whilst respecting the environment; five bathing platforms for Los Urrutias, Punta Brava and Estrella del Mar, all of which lie within the Cartagena municipality. Click for full article

Romans and Carthaginians in Cartagena, Murcia Feria and Cante de las Minas in la Unión have all been cancelled. Bad news for those who love the colourful and joyful post-summer activities which make the autumn months such a pleasurable part of life in the Murcia region as all three major festive events have been cancelled for 2020. Click for full article

Mar Menor special NEWS ROUND-UP;EXCLUSIVE FOR BULLETIN SUBSCRIBERS

Although the immediate issues relating to the Covid crisis have continued to dominate the news this week, the ongoing issues surrounding the Mar Menor continue to generate a large number of news stories, examining the many different facets of this complex situation. Not only is there a need to identify who is responsible for causing the problems and bring them to account, but also to regenerate the lagoon, prevent its further degradation and create a sustainable model for the co-existence of agriculture and human habitation in the years to come.

This round-up brings together the principàl events of the last two weeks affecting this important area which encompasses several key municipalities of the region.

The issue of identifying who is ultimately responsible for the problems faced is complex and this week there have been several developments relating to this topic.

To start with there is the criminal investigation currently being undertaken by the Court of Instruction number 2 in Murcia, by magistrate Ángel Garrote, generally referred to as the 'Topillo case'. In these proceedings more than a hundred agricultural companies and farmers from the Campo de Cartagena area are suspected of having contributed to the degradation of the Mar Menor through the illegal use of clandestine desalination plants and wells installed in agricultural farms, extracting water illegally from the aquifer below the campo de Cartagena, treating it to remove sufficient salt so that it could be used for irrigation, after which the brackish residual waste generated was dumped back into the aquifer or directly into the Rambla del Albujón and on into the Mar Menor.

The resulting “clean” water was enriched with nitrate fertilisers, used to irrigate crops and leeched into the soil. Excess water drained off into the surrounding ditches and when it rained nitrates and run-off water ran down into the Mar Menor, the levels of nitrates growing to such an extent that the resulting algal bloom changed the constitution of the Mar Menor three years ago.

This week magistrate Ángel Garrote has commissioned an expert from the College of Agricultural Engineers of the Region of Murcia to examine the use of a chemical product called Ecoflow 32-A, marketed principally as a product which prevents mineral scale forming in desalination systems. He has also asked the expert to look at the use of filter cartridge systems used by the farmers.

The Ecoflow product is a key factor in the prosecution case against the farmers and when the SEPRONA officers, who are the specialist environmental police and form part of the state police, the Guardía Civíl, raided the clandestine desalination plants, they discovered significant quantities of this chemical, and a large number of invoices and nominal delivery notes proving purchase of Ecoflow 32-A by the farmers involved.

One of the Seprona reports shows just one farmer purchasing at least 9,120 kilograms of Ecoflow 32 within two years, a quantity of product sufficient to desalinate 2,368,918 m3 of extracted water, generating 592,207 m3 of saltwater brine, which would have been discharged into the ramblas or aquifer.That's just ONE farmer, indicating the vast scale of the problem.

The defence teams representing the farmers are attempting to disprove the theory of SEPRONA that the product was used for desalinating the extracted water and are attempting to claim that it was instead used as a de-scaling agent to prevent the pipes and nodules of the irrigation system from clogging up.

The principal problem for the agents is proving that this volume of chemicals was used in the processing of water and not in the cleaning of irrigation systems as there is no mechanism for measuring the true volume of illegal water which was actually extracted.

Officers can only work on the hypothesis that the figures quoted accurately reflect the volume of water illegally extracted based on the volume of the chemicals purchased. Equally, it is difficult to prove how much water was used for the irrigation of these fields during the long period in which the extractions and irrigation were taking place.

So the decision this week by the investigating magistrate is an attempt to prevent the complete disintegration of the case by providing some proof that this volume of chemicals could only have been used to desalinate water and not for cleaning irrigation piping. The agriculturalists have also claimed that the desalination plants didn´t work, were built but were never used or rapidly fell into dis-use; proving that they were used, did work, did process an approximate estimation of the volume of water etc is challenging and complex, but without some form of proof as to the scale of the activity, the risk is that the whole case will fall apart.

The magistrate specifically wants the expert to investigate how much water is normally treated by one litre of the chemical and if the product is used habitually for de-scaling pipes as is claimed as well as how much water each of the filters habitually purifies during its working life.

This week six further agricultural businesses and representatives of companies selling products to the agricultural sector have been called by the court to give evidence relating to the sale of, and use of products in the desalination plants discovered.

Within the next few days around 20 testimonies will be taken, including those of former senior officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Water and the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura (CHS), who are also being investigated for allegedly having failed to control and pursue these alleged irregular actions within the agricultural sector during the course of a number of years (ie turned a blind eye to what was going on).

The CHS is now under significant pressure to clamp down immediately on any infringements of the environmental laws within the Campo de Cartagena, which covers a vast area of farmland within several municipalities around the Mar Menor and on Thursday afternoon this week agents from the CHS reported four cases of “vertidos” (illegal dumping of chemicals, waste etc into the water), three of them into the Rivers Segura and Reguerón, and one in Torre Pacheco, flowing into the Rambla del Albujón (and on into the Mar Menor). Tests were taken and will be examined in the laboratories of the Comisaría de aguas and should they be found to exceed permitted levels, appropriate fines will be issued and appropriate measures to prevent future recurrences, undertaken.

One of the principal problems in Torre Pacheco continues to be the water treatment plant in the municipality which has yet again been denounced this week by campaigners from the Stop Inundaciones! campaign, who claim that the plant is discharging untreated salt and nitrate brines into the rambla as it lacks the capacity to cope with the volume of floodwater run-offs.

CHS initiates testing to pump water out of the Rambla del Albujón

It has been calculated that the Rambla del Albujón, which flows down into the Mar Menor discharges more than five million cubic meters of water per year into the lagoon and the CHS, which has responsibility for the infrastructure, has been under considerable pressure to reduce this flow.

This week the CHS has re-activated the Albujón pumping plant in what it calls a “testing phase”, removing water from the rambla and re-distributing it back to the farmers forming part of the authorised network of irrigators, mixed with water received from the Tajo-Segura Trasvase and water generated from the legal desalination plants.

The CHS says that the start-up will be "gradual", operating a few hours a day whilst checking "that everything is going correctly". The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has welcomed resumption of the water pumping, stating that it has been pressuring the CHS to reactivate the infrastructure since it was stopped a year ago.” The cause-effect relationship between the stoppage of pumping in 2019 and the worsening of the parameters has been evident and verifiable,“ they said, referring to the renewed algal activity currently visible in some corners of the Mar Menor, such as that in San Pedro del Pinatar.

On Monday the regional minister for water, agriculture, livestock, fishing and the environment, Antonio Luengo, met with the mayors/esses of the municipalities surrounding the Mar Menor to discuss various issues, amongst them the rambla, and the resumption of pumping was welcomed by all present.

The importance of the issue of the ramblas continuously carrying water, mud and nitrates down into the Mar Menor was highlighted twice this week by heavy rainfall, once on Sunday morning and again on Thursday.

On Sunday a heavy downpour inland in the Murcian districts of Avileses and Sucina resulted in a flood of mud and water pouring down into Los Alcázares via the rambla de La Maraña and on Thursday this week rains in the Campo de Cartagena once more resulted in rainwater, mud, and according to some sources showing videos on social media, raw sewage running down into the lagoon from the streets.

CHS publishes extensive document about control of the Cartagena water aquifer.

Another development this week relating to the CHS is the publication of an extensive document relating to the vast water aquifer below the Campo de Cartagena.Click to read the report

The report examines the condition of the natural water supplies beneath the Campo de Cartagena, both in terms of volume and composition. Tests show that the water mass is contaminated with agricultural chemicals.

The document is being used as the basis for the future policymaking of the CHS with relation to the supply and use of agricultural water in the Campo de Cartagena. It aims to “achieve a rational use of resources, seeking to maintain existing uses and the sustainability of current ecosystems directly linked to the aquifers in the area." ie; maintaining agricultural activity but also respecting the environmental sensitivity of the area. The plan will establish a working structure to better manage the water resources, limit the amount that can be withdrawn by the agricultural sector and will insist on the establishment of a “community of water users”. New extractions will not be permitted, the use of desalination plants banned, the use of fertilisers limited and a 1500 metre wide nitrate -free strip established close to the Mar Menor.

50 illegal agricultural farms to be dismantled

This week the CHS has also responded to a request from the regional government to confirm whether a series of sanctions relating to the illegal use of sub-terranean waters were sound. The CHS has confirmed that they see no technical justification to prevent the regional government processing the administrative procedures which will lead to 50 different agricultural farms being ordered to stop their illegal extraction of water and illegal irrigation and return the affected plots of land to either forestry use or to “dry crop farming” ie almonds, cereal crops or carobs.

14 of the plots are in zone 1, where the use of fertilizers and fertilizers is prohibited, and they cover a total of 175.14 hectares, and 36 are in zone 2 and account for 764.15 hectares.

Should the affected farmers contest the order the government can apply the Integral Protection of the Mar Menor law and enforce the cessation of the illegal activity.

One of the biggest problems facing the Mar Menor is the whole question of who takes responsibility for what, and indeed, who pays for what. Responsibility for the rambla is the competence of the CHS, and although the regional government and local councils have been pressuring and complaining loudly about the lack of attention being paid by the CHS to control the underground water stocks of the aquifer and management of the rambla, these are the responsibilities of the CHS and the regional government and local councils can themselves do little to control these two elements of the total problem.

Court decides not to open a generalised investigation into the causes behind the degredation of the lagoon

Arguments between the national government, regional government and CHS about who is to blame for the situation in the Mar Menor have been raging for years, but now that the courts are investigating the pollution of the lagoon from a criminal point of view and are calling former officials to give testimony about the roles played by their departments/bodies in the situation, the finger of blame is being pointed at a wide range of factors in an attempt to divert the blame onto another party.

This week the courts have rejected a petition to open a generalised investigation into the causes of contamination on the grounds that this is an infinite task and one which it believes is impossible to tackle.

Former Minister of Agriculture for the Murcia Region, Antonio Cerdá, and former head of the CHS, Manuel Aldeguer, who both have very good reasons for trying to elude responsibility for failing to monitor the illegal activities of the agricultural sector for many years have been arguing for months that various other factors play a part in the Mar Menor degradation and that the illegal activities of the agricultural sector are not the principal cause of the problems. Between them they blame the mud and water run-off caused by heavy rains, excessive urban planning, sewage discharges, activities of marinas and boat engines, movements of sand on beaches, blockage of the golas which link the lagoon to the Mediterranean, generalized increase in temperature and so on.

Campaign groups are distinctly unimpressed by the decision of the court.

“Whoever pollutes, pays”; Public Prosecutor demands that those who are guilty for the condition of the Mar Menor should pay for its restitution

This whole question of “guilt” and “responsibility” is obviously just one part of the total process, as repairing the damage and creating plans to not only ensure there is no repeat of the current situation and repairing the damage are all bound in to this complex situation, along of course, with the question of who must pay for what.

This week the highest official of the Public Ministry in the Region, José Luis Díaz Manzanera, the Public Prosecutor, has ordered the opening of a governmental case, in the Contentious-Administrative Section of the Superior Prosecutor's Office headed by Javier Escrihuela, naming the Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and the Environment, as the competent public administration, "so that it can initiate the corresponding legal administrative proceedings to demand environmental responsibility from the natural people and legal bodies who have influenced (caused) the degredation of the Mar Menor”.

The regional government is warned that "in the event of their non-compliance they must proceed to the forced execution of those actions at the expense of those responsible, in order to return the damaged natural resources to their original state “.

The Public Prosecutor is thereby attempting to force the regional government to submit the documentation it has compiled throughout the extensive processes of investigation which have been undertaken during the last three years to examine the causes of the algal bloom and identify the causes of the problems and oblige it to take legal action against those found to be responsible in order to find a mechanism by which the costs of repairing the damage can be financed.

The aim is "to obtain reparation for the damage caused" in this natural environment, in addition to forcing "the adoption of adequate preventive measures to avoid new polluting discharges to the Mar Menor" by those responsible for this situation.

Law 26/2007, of October 23rd, on Environmental Responsibility, which responds to Directive 2004/35 / EC of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union establishes the principal of “whoever pollutes, pays” and the Public Prosecutor is attempting to force the regional government to identify those responsible and force them to pay for the necessary measures to resolve the issues.

The regional government has stated that it has prepared all of the legal documentation required by the Public Prosecutor in the “environmental liability file” and is complying fully with the legal system.Files will be submitted in the coming days, it says.

Regional minister, Antonio Luengo, has urgently requested the CHS hold an extraordinary Governing Board, as it is one of the administrations that has been working to identify those responsible for the degradation.

The regional government has also said this week that a significant effort is being made to try and bring an end to much of the damaging argument that has been taking place between the various bodies about who is responsible for the current situation and find a way to move forward.

The Murcian regional minister for water, agriculture, livestock, fishing and the environment, Antonio Luengo has this week met national Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán and proposed the creation of an Inter-Administrative Commission chaired by a high commissioner who would be appointed by the national ministry for the next five years and would undertake to collect all the information on projects, monitoring of the Mar Menor, issue technical reports on the status of plans; and to propose prioritization of actions and, where appropriate, the need to carry out new projects.

The mayors/esses of Cartagena, San Javier, San Pedro del Pinatar, Los Alcázares and Torre Pacheco would also participate in the Commission.

Hugo Morán promised to study the proposal, with contributions from his department, to consolidate a framework of permanent collaboration.

Finally…long-term recovery plan for the Mar Menor

This week La Verdad reported that an agreement has been signed with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a major organization founded in Arlington (Virginia, United States) in 1951 that is dedicated to biodiversity conservation and restoration projects. of ecosystems around the world.

The TNC is based in London, specialising in river and wetland restoration with nature-based solutions. They have signed an agreement with the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Miterd) to review the documentation provided so far by technicians from the Ministry itself, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, Tragsa, Cedex and scientists from the Region to prepare a proposal for preferably 'soft' actions. This approach uses green filters, restoration of wetlands, reforestation and sustainable agriculture as opposed to the traditional approach of the 'grey infrastructure': reservoirs, pipes and other works and the national government has requested that the TNC examine nature-based solutions such as green filters and restoration of vegetation and wetlands for the Mar Menor.

Thank you for reading and for your support. Have a good week and stay safe!