APB committed to water quality in island ports
19/12/2016For the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB), keeping the water in the ports it manages in good condition continues to be among its top priorities. At present, the Balearic Centre of Applied Biology (CBBA) is responsible for monitoring and controlling the water quality in the 5 ports of general interest in the Balearic Islands. This initiative fulfils Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Union which requires member states to monitor the condition of the water in each river basin. Previous studies indicate that the quality of the water in the ports managed by the APB are ideal and fulfil the European directives, and also that the vast majority of polluting agents come from dirt on the streets of towns, dragged along by rain towards torrents creating what is known as anoxic mud, which sinks and ends up settling at the bottom of the ports. The key aim of this directive is to protect the surface water in estuaries, coasts and groundwater throughout the whole European Union in order to promote sustainable consumption of the resource and ensure improvement in aquatic ecosystems. Spanish ports, together with all other ports in the EU, have been working on introducing environmental requirements with regards to port management since the beginning of the 1990s. The result is ROM 5.1 on the Quality of coastal waters in Port Areas, a regulation that the APB applies and hands over to the CBBA. In this way, ports can contribute to the sustainability of transport by reducing the environmental impacts on ports, implementing improved prevention, control and management of environmental risks and, ultimately, making it easier for ports to meet the requirements of environmental legislation.
