By Richard Torné
More than 1,000 people gathered on the edge of Granada province at the weekend to protest at the depletion of aquifers in the north of Almería.
The mayors of at least four villages – Vélez Rubio, Vélez Blanco, Chirivel and Oria – took part in the protest, which took place in a large field between the village of María in Los Vélez and Orce in Granada and which only days earlier had been used to grow lettuces.
The four expressed grave concerns that intensive farming methods were rapidly depleting the area’s aquifers and threatening the water supply for more than 14,000 inhabitants.
