Rosa Cardona: “If the discharge is not suitable for irrigation, do you think it’s suitable for posidonia?”

Friday 5th August 2022 · Mike Smith
Source: Partido Populares de Xàbia

Rosa Cardona, spokesperson for the Partido Popular in Xàbia, has released a statement with regards to the breakage of the wastewater network after the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, visited the town to attend a presentation of the launch of a new mobile phone APP to protect of underwater posidònia seagrass meadows.

The statement reads as follows:

We have a new application for the protection of posidonia, the App Projecte Posidònia, which makes information available to sailors to find out where the posidonia meadows are and where not to drop anchor to safeguard it. This application is one more step, but it is not the only measure that must be taken to preserve the threats suffered by the seagrass meadows.

Today it is not enough to be sensitive to the environment. If we really have the will to protect the posidònia and the quality of the sea water, we have the duty to take measures urgently and at the same time complementary to this new application. Among the most effective measures is to stop dumping wastewater from the treatment plant into the sea under the conditions that are being done. To achieve this, a change in the sanitation management at both the regional and local level is necessary.

In the first place, when dealing with discharges of purified water into the sea, it is necessary to ensure that the water discharged is as optimal as possible and to achieve the complete purification cycle with the third phase of purification. Currently the water discharged is not suitable for watering plants, gardens or fields. But, it is being poured over the posidònia meadows. So if it is not suitable for irrigating gardens and fields, do you think it is suitable for aquatic plants, such as posidònia? No, it is not.

Secondly, last November we reported the breakage of the Arenal outfall 400 meters from the shore – no attention was paid. In April, the Popular Party reported the breakage of the outfall just 40 metres from the shore and, since that time, there has been inevitable discomfort. In the end, at the end of July, the outfall was repaired but we had the misfortune of having to close the beach.

Those affected have been the beach users, the businesses and the image of Xàbia. Three months have passed and enough time to have a tertiary phase project for the municipal treatment plant on the table. If we had a wastewater facility with a complete purification cycle in Xàbia, we could reuse the water and carry out the integral irrigation of gardens, fields and return fully purified water to nature.

Thirdly, after repairing the last break in the outfall, the discharge point remains 250 meters from the shore instead of 1,350 metres, which is the distance marked in the project as the discharge point. Nothing is known about this. It cannot be allowed that the current discharge point remains 250m from the shore, since it is discharging within the bay of Arenal beach.

The Popular Party urges the Ministry and the local government to continue the efforts and work until the entire pipework is completed.

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