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Date Published: 02/07/2020

ARCHIVED - Weary municipal councils agree to clean deposits from Mar Menor themselves

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The municipalities of the Mar Menor, see little option other than to take on the cleaning of sediment from the shorelines of the beaches.

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Weary municipal councils agree to clean deposits from Mar Menor themselves

The long-standing arguments about who is responsible for what with regards to the Mar Menor continue, and as the summer season begins, “weary” councils from the municipalities which surround the Mar Menor, have agreed that they will take on the cleaning of mud and slime from affected beaches themselves, after failing to reach agreement with the national Government and Coastal department.

The situation of who has competency for what in the Mar Menor is complicated; the regional government, CHS, local council and national government all have different responsibilities and for a long time have been passing the buck from one to another, attempting to avoid spending their own budgets and apportioning responsibility onto one another. Part of the long-term problems facing the Mar Menor is this inability to agree upon the allocation of responsibilities and enforce it, as well as the immense complexity of the many issues and avenues which must be addressed to resolve the problems long-term.

This summer algal bloom has returned to the lagoon, and in some areas deposits of mud caused by the huge volumes of debris washed into the lagoon after the Gota Fría in September and rotting algal deposits have caused accumulations of sediment and organic matter on the shorelines, some beaches affected worse than others (los Urrutias, los Nietos in the Cartagena municipality amongst the worst.)

There is no doubt that local councils have responsibility for cleaning and maintaining their beaches, but the regional government maintains that the shoreline and the water are the domain of the national Government and Coastal department.

The representative of the regional government with responsibility for the Mar Menor is the director general of the Mar Menor of the Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and the Environment, Miriam Pérez, who has reiterated several times recently that the central government is "the only competent administration for the removal of deposits and mud in the Mar Menor, and which can prevent the stagnation of water and the decomposition of algae” according to Title VI of Law 22/1988, of July 28, relating to coastal management, which clarifies the distribution of powers in matters of maritime-terrestrial public domain, and which highlights that the State must undertake any actions at sea and inland waters, as well as for the regeneration and recovery of beaches.

Recently the regional government has intervened and sent in cleaning teams to clear algal growth and deposits of slime from affected beaches, but all the time reiterating that the central government should be paying for this to be done.

The Mayoress of Cartagena, the municipality with the worst affected beaches in Los Urrutias and Los Nietos, wrote to Hugo Morán, Secretary of State for the Environment, attempting to force the national Government to clear the accumulated deposits, but received a letter a few days ago from Morán, stating that it is not clear that it is only the central administration that has powers to remove the sludge, and that the local councils effectively have his permission to get on with it and do the job themselves.

As Spain is so wearingly bureaucratic, the Mayors say that they must request an Environmental Impact Statement in order to be able to undertake the cleaning themselves, in order to ensure that they are not blamed for any environmental infringements which occur in the process and to ensure that any cleaning is done in compliance with environmental protection laws.

The Mayors made their announcement after a meeting of the Inter-Administrative Forum of the Mar Menor in Cartagena at which all competent administrations except the national government delegation were present.

The regional Minister of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Antonio Luengo, was representing the regional government and he highlighted the "weariness" of the municipalities, due to the "lack of involvement" and participation of the central government in resolviong the problems surrounding the Mar Menor.

He offered to collaborate in the creation of a technical commission to begin work on the Environmental Impact Statement, but warned that it will be a long and laborious process which must include public consultation, so is unlikely to permit works beginning until at the earliest, next year.

The Mayoress of Cartagena is reported to have said that, "we must take advantage of the fact that the Government of Spain has told us that we can act." "We must get down to work to respond to the needs of the Mar Menor."

Cartagena town hall has begun the process to contract the construction of bathing platforms in Los Urrutias, Estrella de Mar and Punta Brava

Although residents have protested against the construction of bathing platforms in areas worst affected by the mud, the Coastal Department (Demarcación de Costas del Estado) has finally given permission for these to be built from the beaches worst affected by accumulated deposits, meaning that bathers will be able to enter the water where there is greater depth without having to walk through the accumulated mud.

The platforms will be installed in Punta Brava, Estrella de Mar, and in three points of Los Urrutias, with a total budget of 673,000 euros.

The five platforms will be between 62 and 110 metres long, and 2 metres wide, with a swimming platform perpendicular to the axis of the deck measuring 4 × 10 metres. This will have a lateral ramp for the access of those with reduced mobility.

The structures must be made of wood with aluminum reinforcements to avoid corrosion, with non-slip surfaces using high-density tropical wood planks and will be secured on the water by a flotation system using polyethylene structures. The flotation system is oversized to prevent its weight from causing any type of damage to the seabed.

Join the Mar Menor group on Facebook for info about Los Alcázares, San Javier, San Pedro del Pinatar, Torre Pacheco, La Unión and Cartagena and keep up to date with all the latest news and events in the Mar Menor: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarMenorNewsAndEvents/