New twist in the investigation of the Casa de Alba for environmental crime. The Environmental Prosecutor’s Office already has the long-awaited report from the Seprona of the Civil Guard, to which this newspaper has had access and which estimates that on the Aljóbar farm (in the Sevillian municipality of Aznalcázar, next to Doñana) illegally between 3,800 and 6,640 million liters, which would have caused environmental damage estimated at more than six million euros.
For this reason, the Prosecutor’s Office informs the judge in the case that “there is sufficient basis to continue the investigation” of this procedure, for which Eugenia Martínez de Irujo, Duchess of Montoro, is summoned to testify as an investigator. The case began when it was detected that on the estate, managed by the Eurotécnica Agraria company (owned by the ducal house), eight wells were being illegally used in addition to the two for which it had been granted. This has twice led to the precautionary closure of these facilities, the last one last December.
The investigation by the Civil Guard recalls that the aquifer from which the water is extracted (Aljarafe Sur) has an overexploitation rate of 0.91%, detecting a “significant decrease” in its level during the last five years. The continuous theft of water would have caused environmental damage that is valued at between 6.1 and 6.4 million euros.
A decade of water piracy
All this, after the enormous extraction of resources during the last decade. Specifically, it is estimated that the water piracy would have been between 3,807 and 6,640 million liters to irrigate a plantation that has been fluctuating in surface area, but which initially consisted of 153 hectares in which they grow gourmet oranges.
Given these data, the Environmental Prosecutor’s Office insists on keeping the case alive, after the judge decided to extend the investigation for another six months. Of course, he rejected the judicial closure of the wells, considering that the evidence existing until the arrival of the last report did not provide “sufficient criminal indications” to do so. For this reason, it was the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (dependent on the central Government) that proceeded to seal them last December due to the evidence of the infraction that was being committed.
It was the second time that the wells were closed, since the first was when the investigation began in 2023. But the judge ordered last May to lift the blockade despite the opposition of the prosecutor, ordering the property not to use them until that did not have the corresponding license.
“Wasteful situation”
Eurotécnica Agraria is processing permits to use the eight illegal wells, but despite lacking authorization, on November 11, the Civil Guard and the Water Commissioner certified that they were pumping water again. It was found that the intakes were in use, without volumetric control and, furthermore, in a “wasteful situation with significant water leaks in the pipes”, as highlighted by the Guadalquivir Confederation.
The House of Alba alleges that it has never used the wells without a license and that, in any case, it has not extracted more water than it is authorized to do. The case is investigating not only a possible environmental crime, but also another of disobedience for not allowing those responsible for the property to enter for an inspection at first.
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