RIP Llíber – protests held
Mass development would mean the ‘death’ of Jalón Valley, warn protesters
PROTESTS have been carried out by the Plataforma Salvem la Vall (save the valley association) as they fight the project to build a huge urbanisation on a hillside in rural Llíber.
They set up a coffin next to the headquarters of developers VAPF, surrounded by a ring of candles and with large letters reading ‘RIP Vall de Pop – dead through ecocide’.
Coinciding with Spain's answer to April Fool's Day – December 28, or Holy Innocents' Day – the Plataforma sought to make their concerns visual, eye-catching and shocking.
In a press statement, the group recalled that the Marina Alta has been under a drought and climate emergency warning, issued by state weather agency AEMET, since 2014, and that wells used for mains supply are currently at just 10% of their capacity.
Towns and villages in the
far north of the province of Alicante use underground water sources, such as bore wells, for some tap supply, and the river authority’s hydro-plan for 2021 to 2027 has alerted of over-exploitation
. The wells could run dry even for existing homes, but the 488 villas destined for Llíber – which would double the population of the village – would place even greater strain on the supply and even leave several towns with no mains water for up to six months of the year, according to reports.
Even though VAPF, in conjunction with Llíber's Partido Popular (PP) mayor José
Juan Reus, intends to dig another well to supply the villas, this would still feed off existing underground water pockets.
“The builders and the mayor of Llíber are working against the clock to create a water source that would 'drink' from the alreadystretched bore wells, which are vulnerable to nitrate pollution,” Salvem la Vall states.
They referred to regional government figures listing 18 towns and villages whose water supply is under threat from this type of contamination.
And just before the arrival of the Three Kings, members of the protest group left sacks of coal outside Llíber town hall.
Coal is traditionally given to naughty children in Spain on Kings’ day rather than a gift.
The association said that they had carried out the action to protest against the role that the town has played in the ecological drama.