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ARCHIVED - 8,460 hectares of land in the Campo de Cartagena still suspected of illegal irrigation
The CHS have reduced their estimate by 1,000 hectares after in situ inspections
One of the many actions which form part of the overall plan to reduce contamination in the Mar Menor is the process to limit the use of irrigation systems for water-hungry crops in the immediate strip of land surrounding the lagoon.
Although water feeds down into water infrastructures that discharge into the lagoon from further inland in the vast agricultural area sloping down towards the coast, the Campo de Cartagena, the immediate area being tacked relates to 1.5 kilometres from the shores of the lagoon, the plan being to change the agriculture in this area to less water hungry crops and prevent agricultural nitrates being absorbed by rainwater leaching into the soil closest to the body of water.
This plan is being implemented by the CHS water infrastructures administration body, which has responsibility for managing the vast natural aquifer hidden below the surface of the Campo de Cartagena from which billions of litres of water has been illegally extracted and used by the agricultural sector for years, and the CHS has been working on a programme to inspect every plot of land being used by the agricultural sector to check for illegal drilling and water extraction; many of these infractions have already been identified by the Guardia Civíl as part of a lengthy investigation to identify criminal activity which is being processed by the judicial system within the “Caso Topillo”.
Following on-site inspections of agricultural land on which it was suspected that water extracted illegally from the aquifer beneath the Campo de Cartagena was being used for irrigation purposes, the CHS water infrastructures administration body reports that it now estimates that a total of 8,460 hectares of land remain under suspicion rather than the 9,500 hectares originally identified on satellite imagery.
This reduction of a little more than 1,000 hectares is largely due, according to CHS president Mario Urrea, to plots having been mistakenly identified as irrigated when in fact the crops grown there do not benefit from irrigation.
It is also reported that illegal irrigation farming in the area from where runoff water makes its way into the Mar Menor, to the detriment of the marine environment, has now been halted on an area of 500 hectares, and the CHS forecasts that another 5,700 hectares will be added to the total over the next 6 months as charges and accusations are finalized.
So far the CHS has filed a total of 124 final reports with the regional government, affecting 2,200 hectares on which the demand is for the land to be returned to its original condition before crops were grown there, as stipulated in the Law for the Protection of the Mar Menor. Of these 124 cases the government has set procedures in motion regarding 54, according to Sr Urrea, who adds that the figure is rising every week.