Potash Extraction and Historical Environmental Conflict in the Bages Region (Spain)

Abstract

Potash extraction in the Bages region (Spain) is the cause of historically significant environmental impacts, such as the salinisation of the Cardener and Llobregat rivers. Recently, several projects that will increase the production of brine and salt tailings in the near future have been announced. Following Martínez-Alier, in this paper I characterize the struggle around potash extraction and its socioenvironmental impacts as an ecological distribution conflict and I argue for a historical approach that brings together the analysis of water, potassium and chlorine flows. Despite the relevance of potassium as an irreplaceable plant nutrient together with phosphorus and nitrogen, research about potash extraction related conflicts remains mostly unaddressed. In this case, archival and statistical sources are used to present potash extraction in the Bages in relation to the increase of water salinity in Barcelona during the 20 th century. I devote special attention to the technological infrastructures developed in order to technically fix the problem of water salinisation, such as the brine collector or reverse osmosis filters, while highlighting the power relations behind the choice of such technologies. The historical approach to this case study shows that Martínez-Alier' s definition of externalities as cost-shifting successes applies to the economic burdens related to the environmental remediation, mostly covered by public budgets.

Impact of potash mining in streams: the Llobregat basin (northeast Spain) as a case study

“…1): 'La Botjosa' and 'Vilafruns' are closed and contain between 3 and 4 million tonnes of waste respectively (Soler et al, 2011), whereas 'El Cogulló' (Fig. 2A, 2B) remains active and contains more than 50 million tonnes of waste (Gorostiza, 2014). The study sites P1-P4 were located in tributaries around this large mine tailing and the site P5 in the main course of the Llobregat River, covering a gradient of exposure to saline lixiviates coming from the mine tailings (Fig.…”

“…Secondary salinization has many different causes, with agriculture and mining being the most important (Cañedo-Argüelles et al, 2013). One of the mining activities directly related to freshwater salinization is potash mining, which has been especially intense in some European regions as the Werra Basin in Germany (Bäthe and Coring, 2011;Braukmann and Böhme, 2011) or the Llobregat Basin in Spain (Gorostiza, 2014). Here we focus on the latter to assess the potential impact of potash mining on the biological quality of rivers and streams.…”

“…Potash salts were discovered in the middle part of the Llobregat Basin (when river cross the Catalan Potassic region) in 1912, and their extraction began in the following decade (Gorostiza, 2014). Potash mines are exploited to obtain potassium salts (silvite and carnallite), which are mainly used to produce agricultural fertilizers.…”

“…During the extraction process important wastes are produced and stockpiled in mine tailings (Ribera et al, 2009;Soler et al, 2011). In the Catalan Potassic region, approximately 3 kg of waste salts are produced for each kg of potash obtained, and they are deposited in large mine tailings (Gorostiza, 2014). Mine tailings are mainly composed of sodium chloride (more than 80%), together with potassium and magnesium chloride, water and traces of other chemical compounds (http://www.lasequia.cat/montsalat/).…”

“…Among different freshwater organisms, aquatic macroinvertebrates (especially insects) can be highly sensitive to salt pollution, and their communities can be significantly altered by stream salinization (Cañedo-Argüelles et al, 2013). In the case of the Llobregat River basin, salt mining has been proved to have the potential to strongly modify macroinvertebrate communities (Cañedo-Argüelles et al, 2012, 2014, 2015Prat and Rieradevall, 2006) and it is considered as one of the main anthropic pressures on the ecosystem (Munné et al, 2012). In this basin, increased salinity has been reported to affect the composition of the fauna due to its toxicity (Damásio et al, 2008).…”