Tag Archives: Pollution

The cross-cutting issue

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Spring has begun, leaving behind meetings, conferences, studies and debates on important issues in Menorca. Menorca’s winter brings a remarkably active pace of events that encourage reflection and analysis. And in all these initiatives, when one takes a moment to think, a common factor emerges—one that runs through all these issues and fills them with a sense of concern.

We struggle to find solutions for aquifer management, access to housing, waste reduction and recycling, beach overcrowding, and the gradual loss of purchasing power.

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Lack of control in the dredging of the Port of Ciutadella

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Ports de the Balearic Islands has carried out dredging in the inner area of the port without measures to prevent the dispersion of silt in the water. GOB wants to know which environmental precautions have been taken to ensure that no further contamination occurs and where the extracted sediments will end up.

Port sediments are likely to be contaminated. These are areas of intensive use, where paints, fuel oils, and various discharges often end up being deposited on the seabed.

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Cutting the flower

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The President of the European Commission says that nuclear energy is strategic for Europe. Next month will mark 40 years since the very serious accident at the (formerly Soviet and now Ukrainian) Chernobyl plant, when a radioactive cloud larger than the entire Iberian Peninsula was released and drifted across the West as far as the United States. The radiation was equivalent to hundreds of bombs like the one in Hiroshima.

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Monitoring tropospheric ozone in Maó

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Ozone is a gas that has beneficial effects in the upper layers of the atmosphere, where it filters ultraviolet radiation. However, it becomes harmful when present near the Earth’s surface — in the troposphere.

Tropospheric ozone is a complex pollutant with no single direct human source. Instead, it forms through chemical reactions involving so-called precursor pollutants emitted by transport, thermal power plants, certain industrial activities and intensive livestock farming.

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Es Mercadal faces difficult prospects for drinking water

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Declaring the sa Roca aquifer to be in poor condition and curbing large-scale consumption should be priorities in water management in Es Mercadal.

GOB has submitted objections to the Sustainable Water Management Plan of Es Mercadal and highlights a serious situation in the water reserves of the urban area supplied by the s’Albaida aquifer.

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Irrigation with contaminated water

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Irrigation with contaminated water

The Balearic Government’s Department of Agriculture says it intends to significantly increase the irrigated areas of Menorca, but it has not clarified where the necessary water will come from.

One of the most imminent projects — the use of treated wastewater for irrigation in Sant Lluís — raises fears of contamination due to the poor quality of the water. This initiative directly contradicts existing water management policies.

The project is to be financed with public funds, amounting to around 8 million euros. GOB submitted detailed objections outlining all the concerns the project raises. No response has been received, but the Government has announced that it plans to start construction soon.

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More wood

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Washing hands is a highly effective health practice. Today it may seem obvious, but it required thousands of years of prior human existence. In fact, the British had already been in Menorca for some time and were using the new Camí d’en Kane when a Nordic doctor, observant and methodical, who attended women during childbirth, began noticing a great difference in recovery if he washed his hands beforehand.

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Urban development excesses of 900%

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A new urban planning threat is being proposed on rural land in Menorca, presented as essential agricultural buildings to save the island’s countryside. Enormous building projects are being proposed with requests for exemption from urban planning parameters, so they can fall outside the scope of current regulations. These will be agricultural buildings… as long as the activity lasts.

Currently open to public consultation is a project for a large winery in Ciutadella, on the Camí de Macarella. It is planned on specially protected land and within an area of High Fire Risk. It is undergoing processing to be declared of General Interest. GOB has submitted objections.

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