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ARCHIVED - Green algae cleared from the Mar Menor in Lo Pagán
Workers arrived quickly to remove the vegetation but fears over the health of the lagoon remain
Following the accelerated deterioration of the marine environment in the Mar Menor which occurred in the aftermath of the flooding caused by the destructive gota fría storm of September 2019 a number of observers have been fearing the formation of an “algal bloom” similar to the one which turned the water a greenish colour in 2016, and it seems that those fears could be justified as this week workers armed with rakes and buckets have been seen removing bright green vegetation from the surface of the water along the beach in Lo Pagán.
Some of the algae appeared before Christmas, but with the clean-up now under way there are hopes that the problem could perhaps be nipped in the bud without it spreading too far. However, as the main parameters of water gradually improve after falling sharply in September and October such incidents will doubtless heighten the worries over what might happen in the Mar Menor in 2020.
The latest measurements show that the level of chlorophyll in the water is now back down to close to normal – higher than at the same point in 2019 but lower than in 2018 – and that the oxygen level has also stabilized after the wild fluctuations last autumn. At the same time all of the indications are that the water is completely safe for bathing, but as the regional government of Murcia attempts to bring into force its draft legislation to protect the Mar Menor episodes such as this one at the northern end of the lagoon serve to highlight the urgent need for steps to be implemented as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, it is reported in the regional press that the aquifer which lies under the farmland of the Campo de Cartagena may not be responsible for the flow of nutrients into the Mar Menor which is held to be mainly responsible for the changes in the marine environment in recent decades. Onda Cero report that a study commissioned by the Ministry of Ecological Transition finds that the amount of water draining into the Mar Menor from the aquifer is between 5 and 13 cubic hectometres per year, far less than the estimates reached in previous studies: in September 2016 an article published in Environmental Reviews reported a figure of 68 hm3 ,and another investigation commissioned by the irrigation farmers in the south of the Campo de Cartagena reached a total of between 38 and 46 hm3.
At the same time, the results of water samples show that the concentration of nitrates in the water from the aquifer reached as high as 700 mg/litre in one sample taken in Los Alcázares, whereas for the water to be considered in good condition the highest level tolerated is 50 mg/ litre.
The implication of the latest figures is that the majority of the nutrients and other substances making their way into the lagoon may not come, as has generally been supposed, via the aquifer, but instead directly from the fertilized crop land in the Campo de Cartagena. The official conclusions of the latest study carried out by Tragsatec will not be made public until March, but again the findings indicate that the restrictions proposed by the government on irrigation farming close to the Mar Menor are much needed.
Images: Alvyn Evans and Theo Wils (Facebook)
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