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ARCHIVED - Work begins on new stormwater tank in Torre Pacheco
The facility will prevent the runoff of sewage into the Mar Menor during episodes of heavy rain
Various projects to protect the marine environment of the Mar Menor and to reduce the risk of flooding in towns along its shore and in the Campo de Cartagena appear to be becoming bogged down in the planning stage at the moment, but one on which construction has started is the creation of a new stormwater tank in the municipality of Torre Pacheco.
3 million euros are being invested by the regional government of Murcia in a 6,000-cubic-metre environmental tank and a water collection pool holding up to 60,000 cubic metres, the equivalent of 24 Olympic-sized swimming pools. These infrastructures are intended to prevent water which overflows from the sewage network in times of heavy rain from making its way into the Mar Menor, according to Antonio Luengo, the minister for Water, Agriculture, Farming, Fishing and the Environment in the Murcia government.
It is anticipated that the tank and collection infrastructure, which are being built next to the EDAR waste water treatment plant on land owned by the Town Hall, will be completed within 12 months, and when they are operational the water collected will be treated at the EDAR rather than being allowed to run directly into the Rambla del Albujón and then into the Mar Menor. On arriving at the tank the water will be filtered at a rate of 7,200 cubic metres per hour before treatment.
Attending the official presentation of the infrastructure, Sr Luengo reiterated that it is an illustration of the Murcia government’s commitment to the towns of the Campo de Cartagena and to the recovery of the Mar Menor, adding that it has taken years to lay the groundwork for such an important project. Permission to use the land on which the tank is being built was applied for as long ago as April 2019, he says, but was not received until last month, a delay which underlines the need for local, regional and national governments to work together in order to make progress as rapidly and as efficiently as possible.
Efficiency is something of which there is a frustrating lack in the whole sorry saga of the Mar Menor, as departments from different bodies of regional and national governments and the CHS fail to work together for the common good, a situation which is amply illustrated by the time it has taken the CHS to obtain permission to repair a pipe in the El Albujón pumping station:
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 litres 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.