Region selects four pilot projects to cut nitrates entering Mar Menor

Murcia’s regional government said on May 23 that four shortlisted projects in the RECUPERA program had moved into environmental review, the next step in a public effort to cut nitrate-laden water flowing into the Mar Menor. The regional Environment Ministry said the projects were selected with Spain’s Centre for the Development of Technology and Innovation, or CDTI, and are aimed at developing denitrification systems for continental waters that discharge toward the lagoon. The four teams now have until June 4 to submit information on potential environmental impacts as officials prepare a simplified impact assessment. The program has a base budget of 5 million euros including VAT and a 34-month execution period. ### Which four projects are still in the running? The Region of Murcia and CDTI awarded the April 30 contracts to Sociedad de Fomento Agrícola Castellonense, Sacyr Agua, FCC Aqualia and UTE Denitra, according to the regional government. Those four were chosen from an earlier field of 11 bidders that had presented proposals under the RECUPERA procurement process, regional and local reports said. The May 23 regional statement said the companies are already carrying out preliminary designs and conceptual development of their technologies. Each bidder is working on a system intended to reduce nitrate loads in inland waters before those waters reach the Mar Menor. ### What exactly are officials asking the companies to do now? The regional Environment Ministry said the consultation period began on May 15 and gives the four contractors 20 days to provide information needed for the environmental review. June 4 is both the deadline for the companies’ submissions and the closing date for objections tied to the environmental procedure, the ministry said. Víctor Serrano, director general for the Mar Menor, said in the regional statement that the process was moving forward on schedule and through the planned administrative steps. Serrano said that brought the project closer to reducing nitrates in waters reaching the lagoon and addressing one of the main factors affecting its ecological balance. ### Where would these nitrate-cutting systems operate? CDTI’s RECUPERA tender documents say the technological challenge is to denitrify, efficiently and in an environmentally sustainable way, waters flowing toward the Mar Menor from the Rambla del Albujón and the D-7 drainage canal. The same documents say pollution reaches the lagoon through both surface runoff and drainage from the Campo de Cartagena aquifer. The Ministry of Science said in November 2024 that the project would target waters from the Rambla del Albujón and the quaternary aquifer, which it described as two significant sources of nutrient-laden inflows affecting the lagoon’s ecological condition. The ministry said the goal was to develop the best available technology while limiting environmental, landscape and economic impacts. ### Why is nitrate removal the focus of this program? CDTI said excessive nutrients and organic matter, mainly nitrates, have driven eutrophication in the Mar Menor and contributed to ecological crises in 2016, 2019 and 2021. Those episodes led to a loss of water quality as well as severe anoxia and fish mortality, according to the tender materials. The tender documents say the problem has implications beyond the lagoon itself because economic activity in the area depends on environmental quality. The regional government has framed RECUPERA as part of a broader effort to act at the source of nutrient inflows rather than only inside the lagoon. ### What happens after this review stage? The April 30 award notice said the four selected companies have six months to complete preliminary design work and conceptual development, including laboratory pilot testing under controlled conditions. The regional government said that first sub-phase is intended to check effectiveness and technical viability before the field is narrowed further. After that stage, Murcia and CDTI plan to choose two projects for final design and larger-scale construction, with validation to take place directly in the Mar Menor area, the regional government said. CDTI’s procurement page lists RECUPERA as a 34-month initiative, and the next immediate milestone is June 4, when the environmental information deadline expires for Sociedad de Fomento Agrícola Castellonense, Sacyr Agua, FCC Aqualia and UTE Denitra.