‘No’ to neighbour’s sewage plant
Not in our backyard – EDAR would be ‘dangerously close’ to Dolores’ homes
DOLORES has united against plans to build a sewage treatment plant (EDAR) near the town, which would stand on the edge of Almoradí.
Socialist (PSOE) mayor José Joaquín Hernández accused the neighbouring town hall of a ‘lack of solidarity’, claiming the project is ‘clearly designed to harm the residents of Dolores by being located far from homes in Almoradí’ and ‘dangerously close to ones in Dolores’.
At a press conference with the leaders of the Partido Popular (PP) and Ciudadanos (C’s) opposition parties, Ramón Simón and Gustavo Ruiz, they expressed their ‘absolute rejection’ of the proposed location.
The 50,000 square metre plot of land, next to the AP-7 motorway and near the municipal border, was ceded by Almoradí town hall for the regional government to build the plant with a budget of over €20 million, cofinanced by the EU.
Dolores council experts carried out studies that found numerous arguments against this location, which Sr Hernández assured ‘leave no doubt that the project in its current form is absolutely unviable’.
After the flooding in September 2019, the three Dolores party leaders were photographed by this same plot of land, when it was completely flooded.
Sr Hernández said even the mayoress of Almoradí must have learned that this showed the damage it could cause.
He noted they have also sent their objections to the EU, asking it to make the necessary changes to adapt the project to legislation and avert this danger. Sr Ruiz said the worst possible location had been chosen, ‘right next to Dolores town centre and very near a primary school’.
It is also on the way out of Dolores near the motorway, so will make businesses not want to set up in an area that is suited to socio-economic growth, he claimed.
“Almoradí town hall decided this so that businesses would prefer to set up in Almoradí instead of here in Dolores,” alleged the C’s spokesman.
He also pointed out that the flooding studies for the project were carried out in 2017, before September’s natural disaster, so need to be updated.
Sr Simón of the PP added that the location is right where the most floodwater came in, so will ‘logically bring more harm than benefits’.
The outdated flooding studies claimed that the River Segura channel would be sufficient to prevent it overflowing, not foreseeing that the containing walls would end up collapsing last September, flooding Almoradí town centre and its farmland. The Dolores council workers’ reports flag up numerous other deficiencies, including lack of authorisation for various pipelines, or for emergency spillages.
Nor were there studies of the problems the plant would cause for nearby residents of Dolores or their homes, such as the effects of the wind or the negative visual impact.
They also claim that economic details about the location are ‘distorted’, and even that a house in Dolores is listed as being in Almoradí ‘to avoid having to apply for authorisation for works’.
Almoradí has needed a new sewage station for many years because the town hall has been repeatedly fined for deficiencies at the existing one, which discharges insufficiently treated wastewater into the River Segura.