Deep in the Axarquia hinterland, Benamargosa, with a registered population of around 1,160 inhabitants, is still not connected to any sewage treatment plants, which has placed it in the sights of the Ecologistas en Acción.
The ecologists say that the Town Council continues to dump its untreated sewage into Río Benamargosa, which is a river only in name most of the year. They say that the wastewater accumulates in a pool about 50 metres from the municipal football ground, creating a stench as the raw sewage soaks into the ground.
GENA-Ecologistas en Acción, to give them their full title, say that this has been going on for many years, owing to a lack of an EDAR (Residual Water Treatment Station) and claims the Junta’s delay in building one does not absolve the Town Council of legal responsibility.
The thing is that local, governance laws assign water supply and wastewater evacuation and treatment as amongst the specific municipal competencies, while national, water laws demand prior administrative authorisation for any discharges capable of polluting.
However, being a municipality of fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, the law also takes into account the provincial coordination of services such as the evacuation and treatment of these waters; i.e., it’s a provincial responsibility.
Mayor Salvador Arcas said that the Town Council has forwarded the complaint to its legal services department and the Junta de Andalucía. He also said that they pay a ‘discharge fee’ to the Junta and has provided municipal, public land as a site for an EDAR. Furthermore, he questioned the timing of the complaint during an election period.
“It seems like a coincidence to us that during an election period these types of complaints are made and people turn to the newspapers,” he said in an ironic tone.
As far as the Junta is concerned, they declared the Benamargosa treatment plant to be a project of “regional interest” back in 2010. Although a required preventive archaeological survey was completed in 2024, no construction work has yet begun.
(News: Benamargosa, Axarquia, Malaga, Andalucia)
Keywords: Raw Sewage Problem, Rio Benamargosa, Junta de Andalucia, EDAR, Sewage Treatment Plant
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