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Date Published: 11/05/2022

ARCHIVED - Water pump to stop nitrates entering the Mar Menor has been out of action for seven weeks

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

More nitrates have been recorded entering the lagoon through the Albujón rambla already this year than in the whole of 2021

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Water pump to stop nitrates entering the Mar Menor has been out of action for seven weeks

The entry into the Mar Menor of nitrate-laden water from the Albujón rambla has doubled in the last year and a half, according to the Regional Minister for Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Environment, Antonio Luengo, during a visit to the mouth of the watercourse. In the same visit, he also found that the pumping infrastructure “has not worked since March 21”, something he considers “absolutely unacceptable and incomprehensible”, given the “environmental emergency we are going through”.

This has caused, he warned, “a ‘boom’ of organic matter in the lagoon”, which will have “disastrous consequences for the ecosystem” once it begins to decompose. This situation will cause, he said, “episodes of anoxia”. According to data from this regional department, in November 2020, 2,400 tonnes of nitrates had entered the lagoon and in May of this year this figure had already doubled, due to the increased inflow of water, caused by the latest rains.

So far in 2022, there have already been more nitrates entering the Mar Menor through the Albujón rambla alone than in the whole of 2021, with scientists having recorded a total of 816 tonnes of nitrates up to yesterday, May 10. In less than five months of this year, it is already more than the 742 tonnes that were recorded going through this rambla in 2021.

The Minister explained that he has asked the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, four times in the last year to put an end to the massive influx of fresh water and nutrients into the lagoon, while deflecting that either he himself or the administration he represents had any responsibility for the ecological disaster.

In fact, he has claimed that the Spanish government has refused to sign an agreement “that will allow us to carry out the necessary actions at the regional government to prevent water from continuing to enter, since they have no intention of carrying them out, so let us do it”.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of actions the regional government can take to curb the use of nitrates on agricultural land around the Mar Menor, but over the years they have consistently shown themselves to be at best incapable of stopping the contamination and at worst unwilling.

Mr Luengo’s latest complaint is, in reality, a case of the regional authorities charging at windmills, because the pump system is designed to only be able to work if the farmers are watering their crops, which they have not had to do for several weeks due to the abundant rainfall.

So, while the Ministry for the Environment in Murcia may force farmers to stop irrigation, it is for naught if they do not cut the problem off at the root and prevent the use of nitrate-based pesticides and herbicides in the first place.

Read also: The deterioration of the Mar Menor is already leading to summer cancellations

Image: CARM