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Doñana dries up completely

2022-09-03T23:11:01.780Z


The last permanent sweet lagoon that resisted drought and illegal wells in the emblematic national park disappears


The last wetland that survived the tremendous drought that is ravaging Doñana has disappeared this week.

There is no longer natural fresh water in the most emblematic protected area in Spain, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The Santa Olalla lagoon, the largest of the permanent ones, which quenches the thirst of thousands of migratory birds and mammals, has dried up, and this means that the rest of the wetlands are also dry.

It is a symbol of the ravages caused by the lack of rain that harms hundreds of species of fauna and vegetation, some of which may disappear.

“It is assumed that there is no water at all in the entire park.

In two months I have seen the deterioration and how the birds were concentrating and the lagoon was full of flamingos, until suddenly they all disappeared”, says biologist Carmen Díaz, a researcher at the Doñana Biological Station, sadly.

Santa Olalla came to cover 45 hectares.

"Today there is a puddle of one meter by two meters," she says.

The Santa Olalla lagoon has only dried up twice before, in 1995 and 1983, after several years of drought, for as long as there are records.

In 2004, an AHS airborne sensor mapped Doñana and identified 2,867 bodies of water on the edge of the Guadalquivir river marsh.

Nearly two decades later, all that water is gone.

The drought, but also the massive looting caused by illegal wells for intensive strawberry farming and human consumption in the Matalascañas macro-urbanization, with 150,000 vacationers, have gradually dried up Doñana, a temple of biodiversity.

Its aquifer is now low and the Government declared it "overexploited" two years ago to speed up urgent actions that help restore the water table of yesteryear.

Aerial view of the Santa Olalla lagoon, in 2003. HÉCTOR GARRIDO (EBD, CSIC)

The lack of recent rains has been particularly harsh this winter in the protected area and it has barely rained half of what was expected.

Between September 1, 2021 and May 31, only 282 liters per square meter were measured at the Palacio de Doñana station, when the annual average is 540 liters recorded over the last 40 years.

Protected species such as the Iberian lynx, the imperial eagle or the spur-thighed tortoise suffer from this water shortage.

The director of the Doñana Biological Station, Eloy Revilla, warns of the necessary change in mentality that many sectors are postponing: “Doñana serves as a sentinel, first it passes in the most fragile areas, then in the marshes, where the harvests are already very bad, And then we humans will come.

Climate change imposes less available water on us and we have to adapt now,

Biologists and hydrogeologists have warned since 1988 of the direct effects caused by Matalascañas, less than a kilometer from the northernmost lagoons of the reserve, and the punctures for illegal wells that until 2019 the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation hardly persecuted.

However, his warnings fell on deaf ears.

The enormous aquifer of 2,409 square kilometers has large hollow areas, as evidenced by the mirror of the lagoons that have disappeared on the surface.

“The fauna of macrovertebrates is sustained by the lagoons, but if there are no shelters they go further or die.

It is a loss of biodiversity for the whole of Europe.

Everything that is strictly aquatic has died, including the eel, which is in danger of extinction, other species of fish such as cornets and aquatic insects.

Plants and amphibians may resist, but not for so long”, emphasizes Díaz, from the Department of Wetland Ecology of the Doñana Biological Station (belonging to the CSIC).

The only artificial stronghold this summer for mammals are the zacallones, small ditches dug by environmental technicians to ensure they can drink.

Santa Olalla has become a dangerous quagmire for birds, who search for water, but sink and get trapped.

Díaz recounts how a colleague recently tried to save a flamingo chick at the bottom of the lagoon, but had to abandon the rescue because he himself was sinking in the mud.

Meanwhile, a colt had been trapped and the vultures attacked him.

In addition, its salinity is very high: a month ago it had 38 millisiemens per centimeter (the unit used by experts), when normal is 3 and sea water has 50.

Laguna Santa Olalla, with hardly any water at its bottom, last Wednesday, August 31.

DOÑANA BIOLOGICAL STATION (CSIC)

Given the progressive deterioration of the sweet lagoons in the reserve and the alerts issued, the Hydrographic Confederation continues to seal illegal wells in Almonte, Lucena del Puerto and Rociana del Campo, where this summer it has closed 71 clandestine intakes.

Since 2018, environmental agents have closed 220 wells due to forced execution, but where they close one, the farmers open another because it pays off: the economic benefits of the strawberry exceed the amount of the fines.

In parallel, Matalascañas is supplied by five wells, which extract 2.75 cubic hectometres per year, and now the Confederation plans to close the two closest wells to Doñana and open another two at the western end, in the direction of the city of Huelva .

Has it been reacted late?

“No action has been taken, in Matalascañas the grass continues to be watered and the swimming pools filled, there is no limitation on consumption,” Revilla censures.

Díaz clarifies: “Of course the extractions influence, we got something because the golf course was closed, but we have to insist so that the politicians give up their plans.

Logic does not work, only the votes and their promises.”

The biologist refers to the plans of the Popular Party, which governs the Andalusian Board with an absolute majority and plans to increase the irrigation of red fruits in 1,460 hectares on the edge of Doñana with a bill that it presented in January, which declined with the last elections in June, and now plans to refish.

This despite the strong opposition of the European Commission -which threatened Spain with million-dollar fines-, UNESCO, the Ministry of Ecological Transition, 25 scientific societies and 1,109 scientists, and 23 European supermarket chains.

The plans of the PP contravene the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which a year ago condemned Spain for failing to protect Doñana.

"There is a very clear commitment for this law to come to Parliament," says the PP parliamentary spokesman, Toni Martín, who, however, avoids specifying a date.

“It is not known.

There are urgent legislative priorities such as the Early Intervention Law, the Circular Economy Law, Local Police or the Civil Service”, he adds.

The PSOE has changed its position on the expansion of irrigable areas in the environment of the protected area: it has gone from abstention to "no more absolute", according to its general secretary, Juan Espadas, last June, reports

Lourdes Lucio.

She revilla warns about this plan: "We cannot promise farmers that they will have more water and then let them go bankrupt as companies."

Díaz suggests a solution to stop the plans of the Andalusian right and save Doñana from the massive looting caused by the strawberry and Matalascañas: “President Juan Manuel Moreno should come to see what is there.

Politicians only come to Santa Olalla when it is splendid”.

Revilla clinches: "We will try."

Laguna de Santa Olalla on August 22, when there was still some fresh water left.

DOÑANA BIOLOGICAL STATION (CSIC)


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Source: elparis

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