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The water used to produce them would be equivalent to leaving a water tap open for 200 years

Millions of melons and watermelons abandoned in two farms in Yecla, Spain

The Salvemos el Arabí y Comarca Platform has denounced the abandonment of millions of melons and watermelons on two farms in the municipality of Yecla, Murcia.

4 million Yellow and Galia melons cultivated this season in nearly 130 hectares of a farm located in the Umbria del Factor were abandoned there. This represents a waste of approximately 300 million liters of water from the La Cingla aquifer, which - according to data from la Platform- is being depleted twice as fast as it is being naturally replenished.

In addition, a million watermelons in perfect condition have been left unharvested in an area of 130 hectares at another farm located several kilometers from there, in the Hondo del Campo area. According to estimates, the water waste also amounts to some 300 million liters, this time from the Jumilla-Villena aquifer, which is being depleted five times faster than it is replenished.

The Platform's complaint doesn't only focus on the abandonment of crops, but also on the overexploitation of the Altiplano aquifers from which millions of liters of water are extracted for crops that are later left unharvested.

To better understand the magnitude of the waste, the water used to produce the melons and watermelons that have not been harvested would be the equivalent of leaving a water tap running for two hundred years.

The Platform has also denounced the institution's lack of interest in working to solve the water issue and to end the water deficit of the Altiplano aquifers that are, according to this group, in a very dire situation. They also stated that the only thing that the Segura Hydrographic Confederation has made in recent years has been to declare the aquifers in a situation of overexploitation, but that they haven't taken any real measures to put a stop to a problem that will affect the autochthonous crops of the Altiplano that are also irrigated by those aquifers.

 

Source: laopiniondemurcia.es 

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