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ARCHIVED - Sewage infrastructure continues to cause a bit of a stink on Camposol
Good news for residents on C-Sector as the water pumping plant is finally rebuilt
But responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the water and sewage networks on private roads continues to create a " bit of a stink" as residents debate the latest developments regarding the Community of Owners revelations.
Residents of the Camposol Urbanisation may have noticed activity this week at the site of the water pumping station on Camposol C Sector, with workmen busy at the plant.
This is the last of the four pumping stations on the urbanisation to undergo a complete refit, although in this case the final works being carried out can be said to be more of a rebuild than a refit.
This is the final chapter in a long and sorry history of neglect, and residents can finally look forward to a “cleaner” future, with the historical problems of raw sewage in the rambla resolved.
Members of the resident’s association have been campaigning for years to try and pressure the town hall of Mazarrón, Aqualia and the CHS to resolve some of the problems relating to sewage management left behind by the now bankrupt developer, and in 2011 a report was compiled by Mazarrón Council technicians and Aqualia as the council prepared to kick out the developer and take over management of the urbanisation, stating that the urbanisation’s sewage infrastructure was incomplete and in urgent need of attention.
Their detailed inspection had revealed that the main sewage treatment plant adjacent to B Sector had not been finished or commissioned, and sewer pipes connecting the various sectors were missing, the malfunctions in the water treatment facilities resulting in untreated sewage flowing into the Rambla de Los Tollos in Sector A of Camposol and the Rambla de Las Moreras in Sectors C and D. The report also concluded that the pumps in the sewage pumping stations had been abandoned by the promoter and developer and never commissioned as had been originally intended.
So bad was the situation that the Town Hall requested that Aqualia make good the shortfalls before officially taking over the administration of the development from the promoters.
However, when Aqualia presented a 1.8-million-euro bill for the works they undertook, the Town Hall refused to pay up, alleging that such a large amount was not justified by the work carried out which was sub-standard and inadequate and in the end the dispute between the two parties was only concluded in 2018, when the Murcian courts found in favour of Aqualia and ordered the council to not only pay up for the works, but also pay interest, the total bill being 1.4 million euros. The court ruling laid the blame for not monitoring the actions of Aqualia and the work undertaken on the town hall itself and the fact that the town hall had taken on the responsibilities of the developer when the council itself assumed the role of promoter in 2011.
This dispute left a stalemate between the two parties which in turn, left the deteriorating sewage infrastructure which desperately required a complete overhaul in a maintenance limbo, and it was not until 2015 that the Murcian regional government agreed to fund the 900,000€ required to refurbish the treatment plant through ESAMUR (the regional sewage treatment department) as part of a regionwide push to create more sewage stations and recycle waste water. This initiative was part of a 180 million euro investment to improve the region’s sewage treatment facilities, the Camposol plant falling within the initial 135 million euro phase.
At this point the 12 feeder pumps, 3 per sector in each of the four water pumping stations (EBAR) feeding the sewage through to the processing plant were not functioning correctly, and it was found that the pumping station on C Sector had never even been connected to an electricity supply.
In 2017 a report by Aqualia on the then current condition of the municipal sewage provisions stated that the whole Camposol urbanisation sewage infrastructure was unfit for its intended purpose and untreated sewage had been draining into the ramblas for at least 6 years.
They said that the 9 pumps in the other three pumping stations were ‘in a precarious condition’ and only one had ever worked fully.
In June 2017 the Town Hall authorized repairs and improvements to the pumping and sewage stations to the tune of over 340,000 euros, according to the minutes of the full session of council on 28th June 2017.
These specified expenditure in the Sector B EBAR (98,164.54 euros), the Sector D EBAR (105,550.39 euros), the legalization of the EBARs in Sectors A and C (26,200 euros) and the Green Zone Collector (112,720.40 euros), all part of the funding provided by the regional government.
However, by August 2017 tempers were flying high, due principally to the extremely hot summer, large pools of untreated sewage accumulating visibly in the Rambla de las Moreras, the absence of any of the promised money actually being spent, and the situation exacerbated by the announcement from the council that more than a million euros was to be invested into improving the sewage network in the Puerto de Mazarrón.
Frustrated members of the resident’s association lodged an official complaint with the town hall and an approach was made to the Guardia Civil who sent agents from their Environmental Division SEPRONA to take samples of the rambla water and issue a denuncia against the Town Hall and CHS.
Within a fortnight ESAMUR started work on the Camposol Sewage treatment plant with a budget of 1,033,386 euros set aside (on 8th March 2017) by the regional government.
Aqualia also started work to fix the 12 sewage pumps and replace the missing sewer links and collectors on Camposol, work reported as having been completed in May 2018, although Aqualia has now been forced to upgrade the capacity of the Sector C pumping station which was totally inadequate for the number of properties it was originally built to serve. As a result the EBAR on C is finally being fully upgraded, in fact, almost rebuilt, at the end of Avenida de los Covachos.
This should put an end to the specific problems caused by the deficient system in the main infrastructure originally installed by the now defunct developer.
However, as residents of the urbanisation are too fully aware, nothing is ever that simple on Camposol and other problems have reared their heads in the urbanisation’s aging water and sewer infrastructure; recently sewer pipes on C14 and D32 among other areas have sprung leaks but because these occurred on “private” roads the council and Aqualia declined to foot the bill for the necessary repairs and the individual house owners had to arrange and pay hundreds of euros for replacing the pipework and making the road and pavements good afterwards.
This is linked irrevocably with an issue which is currently causing a great deal of debate and discontent amongst homeowners, the thorny issue of Community of Owners and the responsibility of the residents themselves for maintaining the infrastructures and services on “private roads”.
In the latest set of regional elections this year, former CRA chairwoman Silvana Buxton was elected as a councillor for the PSOE party, and due to a voting pact, the PSOE now hold the mayorship. For the first time ever in the history of Camposol, the urbanisation was listed as a concejalía, and Sra. Buxton was given this concejalía, along with her job to support the needs of foreign residents within the whole municipality.
This gave her access to documentation formerly denied to her in her role as CRA acting president, and the phrase “like a rat up a drainpipe” has been frequently applied subsequently as she set out to find the real information which has prevented basic infrastructural problems being resolved in the past.
During one conversation with a specialist lawyer, she finally got to the bottom of the reason behind the refusal of the former council to fix deficiencies in the sewage system (and switch on lights) on the private roads of the urbanisation; a clause in the escrituras of the properties on the urbanisation giving individual property owners responsibility for paying for the upkeep of their poligonos via a Community of Owners.
In a recent statement issued by the councillor she acknowledges that residents have been “done”.
She said, “we should have had our obligations explained to us at the time of purchase and the owners have been done. We have all been handed a pretty horrendous deal. There are many who should have explained the situation but did not, including developers, estate agents, solicitors etc. The council also should have done more.”
The biggest problem now faced by residents is that although there has been negligence in many quarters, the owners of the properties have all signed their escrituras in order to take possession of their properties and in the eyes of the law this makes them legally liable to the obligations within each escritura, which includes responsibility for the maintenance of the sewage and water networks on the private roads of their poligonos.
Many residents are rightly up in arms over the situation and are seeking legal advice, whilst others have decided to accept this responsibility and constitute communities of owners.
This system of setting up Communities of Owners is widely used throughout Europe and to date residents have lived on the urbanisation without contributing to these schemes, although as many will point out, they have been paying to maintain their own streets for years through voluntary schemes which are financed by donations and fundraising initiatives, the main reason why such an inspirational community spirit dominates on this urbanisation.
Responsibility for repairs to the sewage network on “private” roads in the future will be covered by a community fund, paid for by community insurance once the Community of owners has been established and residents begin to make their regular payments.
So although the main infrastructure is finally being completed, resolving the principal problems which have affected the residents for so many years, which is excellent news, there are still skirmishes on the horizon ahead, as the residents examine the documentation they've been dealt by the defunct developer which now leaves them with apparently little option other than to form their own owners communities and assume responsibility for the legacy left behind by Grupo Masa. Although naturally, the debates about this topic and whether this option should be pursued and activated, is causing a bit of a stink in some quarters!
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