ARCHIVED - Pipeline to divert agricultural waters from the Mar Menor remains unused

Insufficient reports were compiled prior to the construction of a 1.7-million-euro pipeline which has never been used

Andrés Martínez Francés, the former head of the Department of Water in the regional government of Murcia, has been added to the list of people and companies under judicial investigation for possible offences related to the processes by which the marine environment of the Mar Menor was affected by increased algal growth due to the effects of agricultural practices in the Campo de Cartagena according to a report in the Spanish language media published on Tuesday.

In the case of Sr Martínez Francés and environmental engineer José Luis Manovel García, the object of the investigations being carried out by magistrate Miriam Marín is one of the first steps taken two years ago in an attempt to halt the eutrophication of the water in the lagoon, namely the construction of pipes to divert water in the Rambla del Albujón to Cabo de Palos.

This decision was taken rapidly when the scale of the problems facing the saltwater lagoon were first linked to the leaching of agricultural fertilisers into the residual waters from surrounding agricultural farms which filtered down through the soil and flowed out into the Rambla del Albujón via a network of pipes constructed to carry away the surplus waters.

A plan was prepared to ensure that floodwater containing fertilizers and other potentially harmful substances flowed into the Mediterranean rather than the Mar Menor, diverting the water via a new pipeline but there is apparently evidence to suggest that when work began in August 2016 with a budget of over 1.7 million euros it was without the necessary environmental impact reports having been compiled and approved.

This is despite the fact that the protected area of the Marina del Carmolí (part of the Natura 2000 network) was affected by the project, and it has come to light that the regional ministry of Water, Agriculture and the Environment decided, acting on information provided by Sr Manovel, that such reports were not needed.

Sr Manovel, according to the investigating magistrate, reached this conclusion “in just one day”, and his findings were not supported by any other specialist. In addition, there is hardly any reference in the document he signed to threatened flora and fauna such as the Spanish toothcarp, to the protected habitats in the area, or to the presence of two drovers’ roads which in the past were used by transhumance cattle farmers.

In short, the allegation is that the project was undertaken in contravention of the requirement to compile the appropriate environmental impact reports, a requirement which was underlined in conclusions published twelve days after the work began. On top of this, there was no guarantee at the time that permission would be granted to allow the diverted water to be directed into the Mediterranean, and in fact this permission is still not in place. In consequence, the pipes have so far never been used.

As if all of this were not enough, the original forecast was that an area of 4,400 square metres of land would be affected by the project, but within days of work starting that estimate was raised to 18,700 square metres: the public prosecution service is demanding that an evaluation of the environmental damage implied should be made by the Department of Environmental Quality and Evaluation.

Image: officials at the presentation of the completed pipeline in January 2017

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