Greenpeace denounces Balearic water quality

15/10/2013 00:00

GREENPEACE, the environmental organisation, has described the state of Balearic water as very deficient in its annual report Water.
It said that just 14 percent of the Balearic water resources will comply with the environmental objectives of the DMA (the Water Directive) in 2015. The main problems of the Balearic coast, according to Greenpeace, are bad agricultural practices, which have caused nitrate contamination in the largest springs on the islands, and the tourist sector, mainly golf courses, hotel complexes and urban development. Actually, the nitrate contamination levels in the main springs on the islands exceed 100 milligrammes per litre, the legal limit being 50 milligrames per litre. Because of this it is urgent that the Balearic Government acts to control and stop agricultural dumping and exploitation of water resources, said the head of the Greenpeace Water Campaign, Julio Barea.

In the case of the Balearics, the fact that the quality of the water is so deficient aggravates the situation because some 70 percent of the islands' water resources come from water underground and from the Cuber and Gorg Blau reservoirs. The report adds that the dumping, mainly of untreated water, is also having a very negative effect on the correct development of water ecosystems putting various indigenous aquatic species in danger of extinction, such as es ferreret or the Balearic frog.

The Balearic Government, for their part, said that the quality of the water in the Balearics is not very deficient and that all urban developments with more than 2'000 people have water purification plants.