{"id":15939,"date":"2019-11-04T11:41:54","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T10:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.latribunedeplanas.com\/pratdip-una-catastrofe-sanitaria-y-ecologica-anunciada\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T10:42:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:42:50","slug":"pratdip-an-announced-health-and-ecological-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.latribunedeplanas.com\/en\/pratdip-an-announced-health-and-ecological-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"4 November 2019: SOS Planas raises the alarm over the shutdown of the Planas del Rey wastewater treatment plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Section-Article” module_class=”section-article” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px|0px|0px|0px” custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ admin_label=”Ligne-Article” module_class=”ligne-article et_pb_row_fullwidth” _builder_version=”4.16″ width=”100%” width_tablet=”100%” width_phone=”” width_last_edited=”on|desktop” max_width=”100%” max_width_tablet=”100%” max_width_phone=”” max_width_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_margin=”10px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px” make_fullwidth=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Texte-4 November 2019: SOS Planas raises the alarm over the shutdown of the Planas del Rey wastewater treatment plant” module_class=”txt-article” _builder_version=”4.27.9″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”||||||||” header_2_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”||||||||” header_4_font=”||||||||” header_5_font=”||||||||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n

On 4 November 2019, La Tribune de Planas reported an alert issued by the Asociaci\u00f3n de Vecinos Les Planes del Rei \u2013 SOS Planas<\/span> concerning the sanitation situation in the urbanisation.<\/p>\n

The association stated that the Planas del Rey wastewater treatment plant had no longer been maintained or operating since the end of the EUCC\u2019s management and that wastewater was being discharged into the ravine below the urbanisation.<\/p>\n

It also expressed concern about possible health and environmental consequences and called on the authorities to intervene.<\/p>\n

This alert must, however, be placed in context:<\/span> some of the statements were based on observations and documents, while others \u2014 particularly those concerning possible groundwater contamination \u2014 referred to risks raised at the time rather than contamination demonstrated by analysis.<\/p>\n

\n

An alert that had already begun in 2018<\/h2>\n

Concern about the wastewater treatment plant did not begin in November 2019.<\/p>\n

On 8 October 2018<\/span>, G\u00e9rard Marais, then president of the Asociaci\u00f3n de Vecinos Les Planes del Rei, sent a letter to \u00d3scar Serrano<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In it, he stated that since the EUCC stopped carrying out maintenance activities on 31 October 2017, the wastewater treatment facility had no longer been maintained and had ceased operating.<\/p>\n

The letter also referred to the possible proximity of an aquifer supplying, among other places, Vandell\u00f2s i l\u2019Hospitalet de l\u2019Infant and Miami Platja, and asked \u00d3scar Serrano to alert representatives of the neighbouring municipalities.<\/p>\n

This was an alert issued by the association:<\/span> the letter did not contain water analyses demonstrating contamination of the aquifer.<\/p>\n

\n

What does the 2017 BSI certification actually show?<\/h2>\n

To document the sanitation situation, SOS Planas also produced a BSI certification dating from 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The earlier article in La Tribune presented this document as evidence that the Planas del Rey wastewater treatment plant was \u201ccompliant and operational\u201d at the time. That conclusion now needs to be qualified.<\/span><\/p>\n

The certificate concerns the management system and scope of Comaigua\u2019s services, which included activities connected with sewerage networks and wastewater treatment.<\/p>\n

It is therefore useful for documenting the organisation of these services in 2017, but it is not a technical inspection report on the Planes del Rei wastewater treatment plant<\/span>. On its own, the document does not establish the plant\u2019s precise mechanical condition or demonstrate that it was operating normally at that time.<\/p>\n

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The issue reaches the Town Council in October 2019<\/h2>\n

During the summer of 2019, the sanitation issue gradually moved beyond Planas itself.<\/p>\n

On 24 August, the Diari de Tarragona reported that Pratdip was among the Baix Camp municipalities that still did not have a wastewater treatment plant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As we have seen, that report discussed Pratdip at municipal level and did not describe in detail the sewerage system specific to Planas del Rey.<\/p>\n

On 4 October 2019<\/span>, the situation of the Planas treatment plant was explicitly raised before the Town Council.<\/p>\n

According to the report published at the time by Avan\u00e7a Pratdip<\/a>, its councillors asked the mayor whether Mont-roig del Camp and Vandell\u00f2s i l\u2019Hospitalet de l\u2019Infant had been informed about the shutdown of the treatment plant and the wastewater discharges into the ravine.<\/p>\n

According to the same report, Mayor Joan M. Rovira replied that those municipalities had indeed been informed.<\/p>\n

The sanitation situation in Planas therefore became an issue explicitly discussed before the Town Council<\/span>.<\/p>\n

\n

Concerns about the ravine and groundwater<\/h2>\n

SOS Planas drew particular attention to the route taken by wastewater discharged from the urbanisation and to its possible interaction with local water resources.<\/p>\n

The association relied, among other sources, on hydrological maps and the cartographic viewer of the Ag\u00e8ncia Catalana de l\u2019Aigua.<\/p>\n

These documents help to explain the geography of watercourses, catchment areas and groundwater bodies. However, they do not by themselves establish that a discharge originating in Planes del Rei actually contaminated drinking water in Vandell\u00f2s i l\u2019Hospitalet de l\u2019Infant, Miami Platja or Mont-roig.<\/p>\n

Such a conclusion would require sampling and analysis capable of establishing the existence, nature and origin of any contamination.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Wastewater<\/p>\n

\"Llastres<\/p>\n

\"Document<\/p>\n