Rolling along the pavement of the dual carriageway that separates the old and new parts of the city of Cartagena today Sharon stopped in her wheelchair to put on a rain cape to protect against a sudden shower.
By coincidence, this stop took place outside the lovely El Regidor building. This was built between 1902 and 1904 to the plans of the architect Tomás Rico Valarino and, said the sign, it is eclectic in construction and decoration.
A short distance away, the rear of the old city rises up and in ancient times the whole of the area where the El Regidor building stands was under water as part of a huge lagoon that protected the northern approaches to Cartagena. Not always effectively, as the Roman marines of Scipio forded it when the tide was low on a moonlit night some 2,200 years ago. They waded through the water to take the city from the rear after Hannibal had left with his elephants and mercenaries to sack Italy.
At the start of the last century it became apparent that the devastating fevers, such as malaria and yellow fever, that took such a heavy toll of lives in Cartagena, could be largely attributed to the mosquitoes and swamps of the lagoon. So, a scheme was drawn up to drain the lagoon and use the resulting land for new housing and development. The lovely building, on the south side of the junction of Calles Alfonso XIII and Ángel Bruno, was erected as the first project and it was the sales office for the development company. Today, many people live in the multi-storey residential buildings of the area.
The building is now used as the headquarters for the organization that runs irrigation in the Campo de Cartagena, the Comunidad de Regantes. They must have been glad of today´s rain. A banner was attached to the decorative mirador, or lookout, at the front of the building.
Cartagena, and Murcia Province generally, have suffered from drought and it was only about 30 years ago that a pipeline system was opened that brought water from the Tajo River system to the north to the Segura River system which supplies Murcia and southern areas of Alicante. With that water came huge agricultural expansion, particularly in the Campo de Cartagena and around Mazarrón. In more recent years other thirsty developments included golf courses and residential projects which attracted overseas buyers.
In most countries no-one knows where the water that flows from the tap comes from and a Londoner hasn´t a clue as to whether his tea is made with water from Wales or Wiltshire. It is different in Spain. The provinces have a great deal of power and independence and some, such as the Basque Country and Catalonia would rather not be part of Spain at all. The Tajo River runs through Castilla-La Mancha province, immediately north of Murcia, and the politicians there have decided to write into their regional constitution a requirement that the water that flows to Murcia and Southern Alicante should be cut off. The water is, apparently, “theirs”, and if there are to be fields of lettuces and golf courses then these are to be exclusively in Castilla-La Mancha.
Naturally, this has outraged the people of Murcia and a vigorous campaign is being waged against this strange regional constitutional change. If it gets passed into law and acted upon then an awful lot of people downstream are going to thirsty and the economic impact will be dire.
Hence, the banner on the El Regidor building which reads “Defend the Transfer Tajo-Segura. NO to the Statute of Castilla-La Mancha.
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©Phillip Bruce 2009.
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