MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s government on Thursday pledged 382 million euros ($441 million) to restore one of Europe’s largest saltwater lagoons, where environmental degradation has transformed the former marine sanctuary into a symbol for unchecked pollution.
Situated on Spain’s southeastern Mediterranean coast, the Mar Menor was once a major tourist draw, but years of contamination have turned its turquoise waters a murky green, earning it the nickname of the “green soup” among locals.
“The environmental crisis at the Mar Menor is unsustainable, the aggressions must be stopped immediately,” said Environment Minister Teresa Ribera, whose administration has been trading blame with Murcia’s regional government since tonnes of dead fish began washing up on the shore in 2019.
As a first step, the plan foresees cutting off water supplies to farms without irrigation licences, revising waste-water disposal permits and tightening controls on cattle ranches.
While regional authorities attribute the fish die-offs to unseasonable high temperatures, ecologists have warned for years that runoff from the intensive agricultural facilities that drive the local economy harms the water quality.
High levels of phosphates and nitrates in the water cause huge blooms of algae to flourish. These block out sunlight from penetrating the water and reduce oxygen levels below the surface, eventually suffocating the marine life.
Pollutants from urban development on the narrow sandbar that separates the Mar Menor from the Mediterranean exacerbate the problem.
To minimise levels of contaminants reaching the water, the government plans to invest 30 million euros creating a 1,500 metre green belt around the lagoon’s perimeter as a buffer zone.
Pedro Garcia, director of the ANSE regional naturalists’ association, welcomed the plan but voiced concerns that some projects could become mired in red tape, delaying any concrete action, while others lacked a clear start date.
“The deterioration is so severe that they should launch all (the projects) in parallel,” he told Reuters.
Underscoring the far-reaching impact of the environmental problems, a report by Spain’s central bank on Thursday suggested house prices in the area had stagnated since 2015, while in nearby Alicante they had risen some 43%.
($1 = 0.8654 euros)
(Reporting by Nathan Allen; Additional reporting by Emma Pinedo and Jesús Aguado, editing by Inti Landauro, William Maclean)
