20-07-2022, 08:34 PM
Radio Sintonia:
800,000 euros invested in the repair of the damages of the 2018 shipwreck in Gran Tarajal.
The Government of the Canary Islands has already invested 7.5 million euros in the first works of cleaning funds to return the good quality to the waters of the port and soon the fourth and final campaign to remove the last remains of hydrocarbons will begin.
The public entity Puertos Canarios, chaired by the Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sebastián Franquis, carried out in Gran Tarajal what it considers the largest bioremediation campaign carried out in Europe. Bioremediation consists of the use of microorganisms for the recovery of the environment or for the treatment of materials.
This action obtained an investment of 800,000 euros and the use of 200,000 liters of bacterial treatment, to return normality to the waters of this coast of the municipality of Tuineje and combat the remains of hydrocarbons spilled during the shipwreck of several barges that occurred in February 2018. This has been communicated today by the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport of the Canarian Government, Gustavo Santana, and the manager of Puertos Canarios, Manuel Ortega, to the mayor of Tuineje, Esther Hernández, with whom they have held a meeting in which it has been evidenced that, after these works, the waters of almost the entire coast of the port of Gran Tarajal meet the maximum cleanliness and environmental quality.
The two representatives of the Canarian Government, who took stock of the actions developed by the ministry to recover the good quality of the waters of this majorero port, also transferred to the mayor the objective of the ministry to start in the near future the work of the fourth campaign of cleaning of funds with which the only two points of the dock in which there are still remains of hydrocarbons and thus definitively conclude the work to return to Gran Tarajal the normality and quality of its waters.
The event that motivated this bioremediation campaign occurred between February 23 and March 1, 2018, when a train of storms over the Canary islands characterized by strong wind and waves followed. The third and last storm, called Emma, directly affected the Port of Gran Tarajal, having a full impact on the outer dock and the berthing line of the commercial dock, where a fleet of ten boats, four tugboats and six barges was docked. The action of the storm resulted in the shipwreck of eight of the ten boats.
From the first moment, the emergency was declared in order to remove the remains of the shipwreck from the dock and neutralize the spills of hydrocarbons and other substances produced by the incident and by the rescue work itself, for which different means were used, mechanical extraction and filtering, and biological to bio remedy the affection to the affected area. One of the risks of the sinking of the fleet and the rescue process carried out for nine months was the possible contamination by hydrocarbons and heavy metals, which is why a special technical direction was hired for all environmental operations and a specific Environmental Monitoring Plan for Gran Tarajal was designed and executed.
After 9 months of work, the work ended in November 2019, just before the entry into port on December 3 of the cruise ship Balmoral. The direct expenditure made by Puertos Canarios in the recovery of the dock amounted to 7.5 million euros distributed as follows, 4.5 million for the extraction of the remains of the shipwreck, two million for environmental recovery work and one million for the execution of the reconstruction works of the dam.
For the environmental recovery mechanical, absorbent and biological systems were used, almost 50% of the resources, used, about 800,000 euros, were allocated entirely to the treatment of this through bioremediation, the largest intervention of these characteristics carried out in Europe inside a dock affected by a spill . The final volume of bacterial inoculum used in the treatment of the dock exceeded 200,000 liters. A bacterial treatment was used through which hydrocarbons in suspension and on affected surfaces are decomposed naturally and without residues.
The Environmental Monitoring Plan designed included four sampling campaigns for analysis and assessment. The first three interventions carried out between 2019 and 2021 verified the favorable evolution registered by the different controlled parameters. Given this favorable evolution, it was determined to postpone the realization of the fourth and last one while waiting for the activity of the bacterial inoculum to finish repairing the damage. The results obtained show the quality of the water of the dock, the normalization of the state of the bottom in all the parameters analyzed, with the exception of the level of hydrocarbons in two points located where the barges were submerged longer.
In this fourth and last action, it is proposed to act in the sand of the dock in which the presence of hydrocarbons has been detected, for treatment and reuse or removal to landfill. Puertos Canarios has contracted a project that will define the affected area and the necessary actions to carry out the extraction of the contaminated material, as well as the treatment of it. Once the drafting of the documentation has been completed and processed before the competent environmental bodies, the extraction works of the potentially contaminated material will be contracted, after which a final report of conclusions will be drawn up and the results will be disclosed.
In the defense of the public interest, Puertos Canarios is processing administrative sanctions and patrimonial claims in the courts of Justice against those responsible for the event, in order to be compensated for all the costs mentioned. It should be noted that the Opinion of the Consultative Council of the Canary Islands, mandatory to be able to process these sanctions, has been clearly favorable to the entity Puertos Canarios, both in its decisions to act ex officio and immediately avoiding major damages, as in its claims against the shipping company and consignee, to which it considers fully responsible.
800,000 euros invested in the repair of the damages of the 2018 shipwreck in Gran Tarajal.
The Government of the Canary Islands has already invested 7.5 million euros in the first works of cleaning funds to return the good quality to the waters of the port and soon the fourth and final campaign to remove the last remains of hydrocarbons will begin.
The public entity Puertos Canarios, chaired by the Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sebastián Franquis, carried out in Gran Tarajal what it considers the largest bioremediation campaign carried out in Europe. Bioremediation consists of the use of microorganisms for the recovery of the environment or for the treatment of materials.
This action obtained an investment of 800,000 euros and the use of 200,000 liters of bacterial treatment, to return normality to the waters of this coast of the municipality of Tuineje and combat the remains of hydrocarbons spilled during the shipwreck of several barges that occurred in February 2018. This has been communicated today by the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport of the Canarian Government, Gustavo Santana, and the manager of Puertos Canarios, Manuel Ortega, to the mayor of Tuineje, Esther Hernández, with whom they have held a meeting in which it has been evidenced that, after these works, the waters of almost the entire coast of the port of Gran Tarajal meet the maximum cleanliness and environmental quality.
The two representatives of the Canarian Government, who took stock of the actions developed by the ministry to recover the good quality of the waters of this majorero port, also transferred to the mayor the objective of the ministry to start in the near future the work of the fourth campaign of cleaning of funds with which the only two points of the dock in which there are still remains of hydrocarbons and thus definitively conclude the work to return to Gran Tarajal the normality and quality of its waters.
The event that motivated this bioremediation campaign occurred between February 23 and March 1, 2018, when a train of storms over the Canary islands characterized by strong wind and waves followed. The third and last storm, called Emma, directly affected the Port of Gran Tarajal, having a full impact on the outer dock and the berthing line of the commercial dock, where a fleet of ten boats, four tugboats and six barges was docked. The action of the storm resulted in the shipwreck of eight of the ten boats.
From the first moment, the emergency was declared in order to remove the remains of the shipwreck from the dock and neutralize the spills of hydrocarbons and other substances produced by the incident and by the rescue work itself, for which different means were used, mechanical extraction and filtering, and biological to bio remedy the affection to the affected area. One of the risks of the sinking of the fleet and the rescue process carried out for nine months was the possible contamination by hydrocarbons and heavy metals, which is why a special technical direction was hired for all environmental operations and a specific Environmental Monitoring Plan for Gran Tarajal was designed and executed.
After 9 months of work, the work ended in November 2019, just before the entry into port on December 3 of the cruise ship Balmoral. The direct expenditure made by Puertos Canarios in the recovery of the dock amounted to 7.5 million euros distributed as follows, 4.5 million for the extraction of the remains of the shipwreck, two million for environmental recovery work and one million for the execution of the reconstruction works of the dam.
For the environmental recovery mechanical, absorbent and biological systems were used, almost 50% of the resources, used, about 800,000 euros, were allocated entirely to the treatment of this through bioremediation, the largest intervention of these characteristics carried out in Europe inside a dock affected by a spill . The final volume of bacterial inoculum used in the treatment of the dock exceeded 200,000 liters. A bacterial treatment was used through which hydrocarbons in suspension and on affected surfaces are decomposed naturally and without residues.
The Environmental Monitoring Plan designed included four sampling campaigns for analysis and assessment. The first three interventions carried out between 2019 and 2021 verified the favorable evolution registered by the different controlled parameters. Given this favorable evolution, it was determined to postpone the realization of the fourth and last one while waiting for the activity of the bacterial inoculum to finish repairing the damage. The results obtained show the quality of the water of the dock, the normalization of the state of the bottom in all the parameters analyzed, with the exception of the level of hydrocarbons in two points located where the barges were submerged longer.
In this fourth and last action, it is proposed to act in the sand of the dock in which the presence of hydrocarbons has been detected, for treatment and reuse or removal to landfill. Puertos Canarios has contracted a project that will define the affected area and the necessary actions to carry out the extraction of the contaminated material, as well as the treatment of it. Once the drafting of the documentation has been completed and processed before the competent environmental bodies, the extraction works of the potentially contaminated material will be contracted, after which a final report of conclusions will be drawn up and the results will be disclosed.
In the defense of the public interest, Puertos Canarios is processing administrative sanctions and patrimonial claims in the courts of Justice against those responsible for the event, in order to be compensated for all the costs mentioned. It should be noted that the Opinion of the Consultative Council of the Canary Islands, mandatory to be able to process these sanctions, has been clearly favorable to the entity Puertos Canarios, both in its decisions to act ex officio and immediately avoiding major damages, as in its claims against the shipping company and consignee, to which it considers fully responsible.