The Septic Deposit

The Septic Deposit of Alcalá de Xivert

There exists in Alcalá de Xivert a clandestine deposit of remainders of olives oil mill effluents during 14 years without an environmental license and, what is even more serious, without ever having been emptied, treated or cleaned.

After pressing the olives, after the milling process, there remains an organic product, the effluents which the owner of the press takes to the deposit in tanks, without any environmental or sanitary control. When the liquid evaporates, it produces a fetid mass, highly contaminating and very dangerous to your health.

If filtered and treated, the material is reusable for energy production, as fertilizer, combustion material etc. If abandoned and stored, it possesses a lethal chemical composition of fats, poliphenols, benzoids, all very toxic. Any organism is incapable to eliminate these elements which, what is worse, can cause cancer. Phenols are the worst, and the most dangerous way is through the air. When breathing it in, the material can cause cellular mutations, weaken the immune system and, as said before, cause cancer.

The effluents, besides the fetid smell, also is very contaminating by way of its high DBO (need for oxygen in the decomposition process). To decompose one liter of these effluents, 60 g of oxygen are needed. In these types of deposits, the need for oxygen is enormous (DQO between 40,000 and 210,000 ppm and a DBO between 10.000 and 150,000 ppm).

Processing 1,000 kg of olives produces a contamination equivalent to a village of 500 – 1,000 inhabitants. In other words, how many people were contaminated during all these years?

Now, the owner of this establishment is again asking for a license. It seems like the agricultural engineer is ready to approve it, and of course city hall appears tolerant of such behavior.

 

I sincerely believe this company does not deserve such benevolence, and the people should speak out once and for all, even if only in the interest of their own health and that of their children.

I really would like to analyze this organic material.