It could be illegally capturing groundwater from Doñana for the irrigation of an agricultural operation located in the Sevillian municipality of Aznalcázar, one of the gates of the National Park. For this reason, which could constitute a crime against the environment, the youngest daughter of the Duchess of Alba, Eugenia Martínez de Irujo, has been summoned to testify before the Court of First Instance and Instruction 1 of Sanlúcar la Mayor, also in Seville. , according to a complaint filed by the Prosecutor's Office.
As confirmed by sources from the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA), the complaint is directed against an entity Eurotecnia Agraria S.L., dedicated to agricultural exploitation, and against its legal representative, the Duchess of Montero. It would be an orange farm with an area of 200 hectares where, according to El País, there would be up to eight wells without a license.
According to the Prosecutor's Office complaint, dated September 7 of this year, the inspection that revealed this irregularity at the Aljóbar farm took place on May 25. According to the document presented, it was the Civil Guard, who then confirmed the existence of "two wells and a pond duly registered in the CHG, as well as another eight that were not registered" and that supplied water to 200 hectares of orange trees.
The Technical Section of the CHG issued a report in June that assessed "the damage caused to the public hydraulic domain in this campaign due to the illegitimate irrigation carried out up to that day, resulting in a consumption of 305,851.73 cubic meters of water" of the mass. of Aljarafe Sur water, corresponding to the territory of the Guadiamar water system, linked to the Doñana park, for the amount of "an economic amount of 36,702.16 euros." Given the situation, the Water Commissioner ordered the "extraction of the installed pumping equipment and the sealing of the wells," it is explained, although "on June 12, a representative of the property denied access to the property for the application of the aforementioned measures", an attitude that doubles the problems for the youngest daughter of the Duchess of Alba, who also faces a possible crime of disobedience.
The text states that these water withdrawals would have continued for at least a decade with the consequent deterioration in the groundwater masses of Doñana, an ecosystem that is currently in serious danger due to the intensive agriculture practiced in the area. area, in addition to the extreme drought it suffers due to lack of precipitation.
It should be noted that in the area of Doñana, according to data from the WWF organization consulted by this newspaper, more than a thousand of these illegal drillings are currently dispersed, causing significant damage in the area. It is the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (CHG), dependent on the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, who assumes the task of inspecting and closing these wells with its Water Police.
One of the objectives of this demarcation is to close a total of 407 illegal prospecting operations before the end of the year in the area and, for now, they are going at a good pace: in the month of August, as stated in one of the statements of the CHG, 13 of them were closed, 25 in the month of July. If the pace of inspections and sanctions and closures continues like this and the target figure is reached, 1,065 wells will have been closed since 2019.
"The closure of wells is a fundamental intervention, even more so in the context of the drought that the basin is going through, which will increase governance and prevent comparative grievances between farmers," they point out from the CHG, from which it is stated that "these precautionary measures are carried out to protect water resources and guarantee general interests, under the provisions of article 56 of the LPACAP and Royal Decree-Law 4/2023, of May 11, by which urgent measures are adopted in this area. "agrarian and water sector to alleviate the effects of the drought. The actions consist of requiring the property to extract the pumping equipment installed in the catchments in order to then proceed to seal them."
