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article_detail
Date Published: 26/05/2020
ARCHIVED - Residents of the Mar Menor request urgent meeting with Government Delegate about condition of beaches
Associations representing Punta Brava, El Carmolí, Los Urrutias, Estrella de Mar and Los Nietos all seek urgent solutions to the current problems with their beaches
This corner of the Mar Menor is proving to be particularly controversial this spring, following three separate incidents of heavy rains and flooding in the last few months, combined with the long-running issues faced by the lagoon due to the continued disposal of nitrate-laden waste water and agricultural run-off.
Click for a detailed background document which explains this complex topic in more detail. CLICK HERE
Some areas of the lagoon, which covers more than 70 square kilometres are weathering the run-off and the side-effects of the heavy rains better than others, and in deeper water areas the cool spring has not yet heated the water to a sufficient level yet for the algal bloom which has started to form in the shallower, warmer fringes of Lo Pagán to spread at a general level.
But this particular stretch has been problematic for a considerable time, as the prevailing winds tend to push silt and debris into this shallow corner, which has little natural water movement, the silt accumulating and organic waste decomposing, the combination of all of this making the water shallower and limiting water movement still further with each passing year.
Neighbours have complained for years that this area lacks the investment made into infrastructural solutions found in other more tourism-driven sections of the lagoon and there is no denying that the situation is worse this spring than it has been for many years.
Neighbours face a complex division of responsibilities, as 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 other bodies.
The presidents of the associations of residents representing Punta Brava, El Carmolí, Los Urrutias, Estrella de Mar and Los Nietos have now demanded an urgent meeting with the government delegate, José Vélez, to ask him for immediate solutions to the extreme state that their beaches have reached this spring.
"Another winter has passed without Costas removing the sludge and the dry mud that impedes the movement of the sea, which is why the stagnation of the water near the shore has occurred yet again," they say in a statement released on Sunday.
"The state of the sea makes the algae grow faster then that in turn stagnates alongside the beach and then rots," they point out, arguing that "bathing was difficult in previous years, but this summer it may be impossible. At least it would be something if the sand could be cleaned daily and if the mud and algae in the first few meters of water that make bathing the sea unpleasant and dangerous are removed, " they say in their press statement.
The representatives complain that the central Administration is the only body which has not attended meetings and demand to know what the Coastal department (Demarcación de Costas del Estado) which is the responsibility of the national government, is going to do about the current situation.
They reiterate that this is the administration with the power to undertake the removal of the sludge and accumulations from the water.
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 reiterated on Sunday that the central government is "the only competent administration for the removal of dry and mud in the Mar Menor, and which can prevent the stagnation of water and the decomposition of algae ».
This, she says, is defined in 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.
The Government Delegate is the official representative of the Spanish State in the Murcia region.
Image: Ayto-Cartagena
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