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article_detail
Date Published: 20/11/2020
ARCHIVED - Planned de-nitrification plant in San Pedro del Pinatar stalled
Image; This spring San Pedro del Pinatar was affected by an intense algal bloom on the Villananitos beaches
Meanwhile it has taken three weeks for the CHS to obtain permission to fix a broken pipe which has allowed 300 liters of agricultural run-off per second to pour into the lagoon through the Albujón rambla.
Progress continues to be agonizingly slow towards reducing the runoff of harmful substances from the crop fields of the Campo de Cartagena into the Mar Menor, the eventual aim being to achieve “zero runoff”, the latest news being that one of the key infrastructures of the project, the de-nitrification plant which is to be built alongside the salt flats of San Pedro del Pinatar, must await further modifications and approval procedures before the planning stage can be completed.
The draft plans for the plant, with a budgeted construction cost of 12.2 million euros, have been completed by the ministry of Agriculture in the regional government of Murcia and submitted to the CHS water infrastructures management body, but further progress is now “on hold” as the national Ministry of Ecological Transition considers its modifications. When it is finally completed the plant will be able to treat 12 cubic hectometers of water a year, a capacity which is estimated to be sufficient to eliminate nitrates from the water running off the Campo de Cartagena, from the aquifer which lies beneath the farmland, from agricultural drainage and from the natural floodwater channels or “ramblas”.
The plant is to be integrated into a wider-ranging project which also includes the construction of a large water collection facility near the northern end of the lagoon, complete with pumping stations and 55 kilometres of pipes, and a new underwater outlet pipe alongside the one which is already in place to take away the highly salted water from the desalination plant operated by the Mancomunidad de Canales del Taibilla. These two infrastructures are budgeted at 70 million euros but they too are awaiting full permission for construction to begin, with the CHS soon to start work on the required environmental impact report.
In addition, in order for the scheme to go ahead two vital elements are still missing. One is the enlargement and reactivation of the water treatment plant at El Mojón so that it can work alongside the de-nitrification unit - at present that project is blocked due to permission not having been obtained to pump saltwater out into the Mediterranean - while the other concerns what will be done with the treated water.
In theory the idea is to pump this water out into the Mediterranean with maximum levels of nitrates of under 50 milligrams per litre, but another proposal is that it could be made available for irrigation farming, the activity which is held largely responsible for the deterioration in the marine environment of the Mar Menor over the last 50 years or so. The main attraction of this course of action is that farmers would be paying for the water provided, enabling the government to recoup at least some of its investment, but on the other hand the Ministry has expressed concerns that it could prove to be counter-productive in the sense that it might be detrimental to the water quality in the aquifer.
But both of these possibilities are still merely hypothetical, as even more doubt is being cast by the Ministry over the plans for the water collection network which would bring untreated water to the plant in the first place, and if approval for this infrastructure is not given then it would make the de-nitrification plant completely redundant.
In short, then, despite the drawing up of detailed plans for the de-nitrification plant, to a certain extent the whole project is still up in the air. The regional government of Murcia maintains that it has been a mistake to separate the different elements of the scheme and that the plant, which is to be built by the regional government, ought to be included in the global plan. With environmental impact reports still to be drawn up and the Ministry for Ecological Transition yet to decide upon the modifications required, no timescale has been established for the completion of the work to protect the Mar Menor and all the signs are that it is likely to remain in a state of uncertainty for years.
More than three weeks of agricultural water pouring into the Mar Menor before permission could be secured to repair a broken pipe
It’s been reported this week that the Ministry of Agriculture has finally granted a works permit to the Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS) to repair a broken pipeline in the El Albujón water pumping system,which has been discharging tens of thousands of litres of agricultural water run-off into the Mar menor for the last three weeks.
The pipeline had broken in Los Narejos, within a protected area of the Red Natura, so the CHS needed an express permit from the Autonomous Community, a process which has taken three weeks to complete.
Since October 28th, 300 liters of agricultural run-off per second has been pouring into the lagoon through the Albujón rambla. The pumping station is designed to divert 5 cubic hectometres of agricultural water run-off per year from the lagoon, helping to prevent further environmental disaster.
The regional Ministry for the environment has proposed that the CHS request a one year repairs permit as the pumping station frequently breaks down, or breaks occur in the pipework; a one year permit would avoid the CHS having to request permission each time there is an incident and speed up repairs.
As a general rule, it takes about ten days to grant the environmental permit.
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