The proposed water treatment plant project appears to have got bogged down yet again, despite the official publication of the favourable environmental impact study in January.
Last October, it was proposed at regional level that a new water canon, or tax, be used to fund a whole host of projects, including the Nerja sewage plant. However, there were objections from the opposition PP and this matter has gone to the Constitutional Court. In addition, the proposed new canon has been postponed until June 1st.
It has also been decided that the sewage plant will only be financed through state funds.
Meanwhile, in Nerja, there is still the question of an additional payment to the landowners in Fuente del Baden, site of the future sewage plant, as, according to the courts, the land was wrongly classified and therefore the owners were underpaid when the land was expropriated.
Nerja Council was ordered to pay €900,000 to the landowners, a court ruling which, naturally, is being contested left, right and centre, adding to the delay. The Council has even suggested that the Ministry of Environment, the department responsible for actually building the sewage plant, should pay the €900,000 out of ‘savings’ being made on the project due to infrastructure projects already carried out in Nerja.
It is not only the residents of Nerja who are affected by the lack of a sewage facility. Neighbouring municipalities such as Torrox and Almuñecar are also complaining about the situation.
The Torrox authorities are reported as saying: “It is useless to have two treatment plants in the town when Nerja has none. All the shit, excuse the phrase, comes to our beaches”.
The EU has set a deadline of 2015 for all EU member states to have proper waste water treatment plants, a deadline which is looming ever closer with little sign of any action.
Will says:
What a Mess, ( pardon the pun) but the red tape brigade seem to be winning again.
How complex can a system be to build something so necessary to the Nerja area!
It may be useful to ask the mayor of Torrox how He/She managed to get two sewage plants? a fantastic achievement. can Nerja not pipe their sewage to one of the Torrox plants ?
Are the town council waiting for the EU deadline of 2015 before they have to Act?
I put a google search to the test with the words “Nerja Sewage” therein. How saddened was I to see many hits and articles stating how bad the sewage situation had become.
Below is the text from a web page Green Guide Spain – titled – “Costa del Dump”
Nerja beach, Costa del Sol
POLLUTED: Nerja’s water under spotlight
NERJA is being blamed for the poor water conditions along the Costa del Sol. A new group, the Integral Sanitation Forum, was formed to put pressure on towns that dump sewage both in the sea and inland into rivers.
In particular, the group is extremely concerned with the black-spot of Nerja, which is the only municipality along the coast that still dumps sewage into the sea.
The town has failed to install a sewage plant, after numerous unfulfilled promises and failed deadlines. The town of 21,000 people still continues to pump raw sewage into the sea, infuriating both residents and the Nerja town hall.
Further disruption was caused by a property dispute that ended with the Nerja town hall paying 900,000 euros for the previously un-derpriced land.
The Junta admits it will be 2015 at the earliest before the plant is licensed, constructed, and fully operational.
Speaking in Torremolinos, director of the new forum Salvador Vilches believes it is crucial for officials to understand the urgency of the situation.
“If the coastline’s sanitation gets any worse tourists will abandon the Costa del Sol and flock to cheaper destinations like Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia,” said Vilches.
To sustain the Costa as a tourist destination, Vilches insists that sanitation must become a top priority. “The quality can’t just be hotels, services and facilities,” he added. “The sea water must be of a high quality too.”
Again it saddens me to read the articles reference the nerja coastal pollution, and in the current climate something as crucial as this will not go away. It can only be to the demise of the Town and needs a resolution pronto.