Investment to protect the Mar Menor

TWO measures to protect the Mar Menor and improve its environmental condition have been approved by Murcia regional government.

A total of €153,300 will be invested in scientific research into the water exchange between the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean Sea.

It will be carried out by professors from Cartagena’s Polytechnic University and is based on estimating the amount of water which passes between the two seas in 2019.

The Mar Menor and the Mediterranean are linked through several channels named ‘golas’, but in recent years their depths have been dramatically reduced, leading to a marked reduction in the amount of water flowing in and out of the Mar Menor.

The aim of the research is to help the authorities and scientists take measures and launch plans to protect the vast lagoon.

A regional government spokesman noted that the water exchange is one of the most important natural procedures for the Mar Menor as it provides fresh and clean water but maintains the higher salinity levels in the lagoon.

The spokesman also revealed that €340,000 will be invested in a station to treat brine coming from farmers’ desalination plants and prevent it flowing into the Mar Menor.

Farmers have been using drought-well water to irrigate their crops but it has very high salinity levels and has to be treated.

Read about a Finnish professor’s innovative proposal to eliminate pollution from the Mar Menor using a pump system on p4 of the Costa Living supplement.