We supported investigative journalists Datadista in 2019 to take a deep dive in the circumstances leading to increasing pollution in the waters of the protected Mar Menor lagoon in southern Spain. What they found is a chilling call to action.
It starts with grand plans and ends with three tonnes of fish dying on the shore. There are suitcases full of money and secret underground pumps. But the most striking piece of the story is thirty years of laissez-faire by authorities, despite foreseeable and dramatic consequences.
In December, the Global Investigative Journalism Network picked this story as one of its top picks in Spanish for 2019. The whole investigation has just been translated into English.
Take note!
The original investigation published in Spanish: https://datadista.com/medioambiente/desastre-mar-menor/
The English version: https://datadista.com/medioambiente/desastre-mar-menor/eng/