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ARCHIVED - Murcia government faces lawsuit over failure to punish companies responsible for polluting the Mar Menor
The Department of the Environment denies charges of “inaction” in dealing with illegal water desalination offences
The public prosecutions service of the Region of Murcia has decided to take the Department of the Environment of the regional government to court in a bid to force it to open investigations into 10 agricultural companies, after they were found to have contributed to the deterioration of the marine environment of the Mar Menor by allowing contaminated water to run off into the lagoon.
It is now a year since the prosecutions service required action from the government to punish those found responsible for allowing water from de-salination equipment to make its way into the Mar Menor, but still no progress has been made in terms of exacting the payment of fines. Instead, the Department is accused of merely passing the buck by declaring that the administration of such procedures is the responsibility of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura water infrastructures administration body (CHS).
Regional newspaper La Verdad quotes unnamed sources at the prosecutions services as saying that this claim amounts to “taking the Mickey”, taking 12 months to deny responsibility for the punishment of guilty parties. This comes after it was concluded that the 10 companies concerned were without doubt guilty of the charges, having extracted water without authorization from the aquifer beneath the Campo de Cartagena, treated it to make it suitable for irrigation, again without authorization, and then allowed the remaining water to run off into “rambla” floodwater channels which lead into the Mar Menor.
The Department of the Environment, on the other hand, maintains that the prosecutions service has constantly been informed of the state of affairs, and that the offences were committed in areas which are under the jurisdiction not of the regional administration but of the CHS. But while the legal wrangling continues, the key point to be made is that those found responsible for contributing to the deterioration of the Mar Menor have still not been punished for their actions.
Image: @JuaniMoya5 Twitter