The Mar Menor: Action at last to save a dying sea

The largest permanent saltwater lagoon in Europe, situated in the south-east of Spain, has been experiencing spells where seabed vegetation, fish and crustations die because of extreme eutrophication, where an excess of nutrients boosts growth of algae and plants, removing oxygen from the water and blocking light. A legacy of mining and a huge expansion in tourism have contributed to the destruction, but it was a switch from traditional agriculture to intensive farming methods in the surrounding catchment area that has caused the most damage. For decades, run-off from the farming land rich in nitrates has entered the lagoon. To irrigate the whole area, farmers built wells and installed hundreds of desalination plants to turn the brackish groundwater of the aquifer into water suitable for irrigation. The brine this produces is full of nitrates and has been reaching the Mar Menor for decades. The article looks where does the responsibility for the disaster lies, and at potential restoration solutions to the problem, including the combined use of denitrifying bioreactors and manmade wetlands.

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McGlone C. The Mar Menor: Action at last to save a dying sea. The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1049/et.2022.0302

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Tipo de recurso Artículo
Fecha de creación 05-11-2024
Fecha de última modificación 20-01-2025
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Identificador de los metadatos f592a520-748f-56fc-8ed6-0167b614869f
Idioma de los metadatos Español
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Categoría del conjunto de alto valor (HVD) Observación de la Tierra y medio ambiente
Categoría temática ISO 19115 biota
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Nombre del autor McGlone, C
Nombre del editor The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Identificador alternativo DOI: 10.1049/et.2022.0302
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