The end of the Zinsa polluting waste pond, in the Murcian city of Cartagena, is once again announced. This time, the president of the Instruction Court 5 of Cartagena, Ignacio Munítiz, has ordered that “the immediate closure of the cells of the hazardous waste dump” be carried out, following a request from the Torreciega Neighborhood Association, which represents the lawyer José Manuel Muñoz.
This decree is preceded by a request from the Regional Government five years ago, and more than 16 years ago, for the closure of the plant and the non-compliance with the closure of the landfill required by the Community in the environmental impact statement: “The general directors [de Planificación, Evaluación y Control Ambiental] “They have been deceiving us for a long time by saying that if the situation was not resolved by the companies, the Community would do it,” laments the president of the Neighborhood Association of the station sector, Pencho Sánchez.
The car comes after measurements carried out by the Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) of the Civil Guard, which confirmed that there is an uninterrupted discharge of polluting waters from Zinsa towards the Rambla del Hondón and, from there, towards the Mediterranean Sea. It is an estimate of 200,000 kilos of cadmium, 900,000 kilos of zinc and 1,500 kilos of copper, very dangerous substances that end up in the sea. That is why, in the report that the Civil Guard sends to the judge, it requests the immediate closure of the ponds.
“We appreciate the judge’s decision positively, it is a pity that we neighbors have to go to court, because the Administration has the powers,” recalled Sánchez. The neighbors have been protesting for more than a decade in favor of the sealing of the ponds.
The latest protests took place this summer, when Torreciega residents warned of the consequences that waste has on their health: “The residents of Torreciega have lead and cadmium in their blood, among the residents of the La Estación area there are a large number of people who have died of cancer and others who have it,” lists the president of the Neighborhood Association of the station sector.
16 years without closure
Since 2009, there has been a resolution of the General Directorate of Planning, Evaluation and Environmental Control of the Autonomous Community of the Region (CARM) “without any evidence that said body has demanded that any of its owners comply with the obligation,” recalls the latest expert report of the Civil Guard.
Later, in 2019, the Community of Murcia granted a period of 10 days to repair the fence of the contaminated land, in order to effectively prevent the entry of anyone from outside the area. Within this same period, it was also necessary for the evacuation of toxic and dangerous liquid waste stored in the ponds and tanks of the contaminated land to be effective: “It is not understood why in 2009 and with soils declared contaminated, no measures were taken. The law says that once these soils are declared, they must be decontaminated within three years.
The company that owns the land also had two months to present a technical project for the decontamination of the land declared contaminated. The project had to reflect the measures necessary to avoid the risks existing on the land, both for the environment and for people.
Zinsa, El Hondón, Peñarroya, Jenny
While the neighbors affected by the Zinsa pond have obtained their first legal victory, others are still waiting for action from the administration and the companies that own the land contaminated by mining waste.
On June 20, the Neighborhood Association of the Port City Station Sector filed a complaint accusing the General Directorate of the Environment of the Region of Murcia and the City Council of Cartagena of being “directly responsible, through inaction, for the health risks to neighbors arising from the delay in the rehabilitation of the El Hondón land” and of subjecting “the physical integrity of people to the future urban use of the land.” Since 2001, they have been fighting for the decontamination of the highly contaminated soils of this wasteland, where the former Potash and Derivatives factory was located.
In the case of Peñarroya, the land, located in the Santa Lucía neighborhood, belongs to the Port Authority, where a lead smelter used to be: “In total, Peñarroya has been closed for 32 years, they have had time to decontaminate,” Sánchez observes.
Regarding the Jenny pond, a green belt was installed to prevent the waste from this deposit of mining contaminants from entering the Mar Menor after more than twenty years of struggle by the residents of Llano del Beal. Today, they are concerned that even if the waters do not reach the sea, wind erosion of the pollutants continues to make their air unbreathable: “During the Jenny march, they made this green filter to prevent the acidity of the water from seeping in through the runoff. But wind erosion continues to exist,” said Juan Ortuño, president of the Platform for People Affected by Heavy Metals.
Another concern of the neighborhood’s residents is the maintenance of this green belt: “All these works need maintenance because in the end a filter ends up being killed. Since the judge ordered the installation of this system, there has been no movement to check if the filters are good or if they are effective,” Ortuño denounced.
