The association of Mediterranean sailors has lodged an appeal with the Provincial Court in Palma which is directed at the regional ministry of the environment and its alleged failure to sanction the Emaya municipal services agency for the discharge of untreated water into the bay of Palma.
The appeal argues that public officials allowed untreated water to be dumped into the sea for years without doing anything about it. They consider that this was unfair and arbitrary action by the ministry which, over a period of less than two years, initiated hundreds of proceedings for anchoring on posidonia sea grass. These were proceedings, they maintain, which were opened without assessing damage caused.
The appeal follows a court decision that the ministry did intervene to try to solve the basic problem - the inability of the Palma treatment plant to deal with all the water it was receiving. The court noted the fact that the government has been investing 220 million euros in infrastructure improvements. The prosecutor's office has also ruled out the existence of a crime.
The association is demanding that oral proceedings be allowed against ministers and senior officials who have held positions of responsibility since 2014. These include former environment minister, Vicenç Vidal, and the current minister, Miquel Mir. The appeal insists that it is necessary for the case to go to trial, as the facts are serious and it is necessary to establish why proceedings against Emaya were not initiated, despite complaints and the continued closure of beaches.