Spain’s unique Mar Menor, 10 years after infamous pollution episode: From the ‘green soup’ to ‘a tiny Mediterranean’

Spain’s unique Mar Menor, 10 years after infamous pollution episode: From the ‘green soup’ to ‘a tiny Mediterranean’

Given the clear waters and the dazzling calm stretching this spring morning from Villananitos beach to the wall of residential buildings on La Manga, a sandspit on the far side of the lagoon, it is hard to recall how the Mar Menor collapsed exactly 10 years ago. A biological breakdown known as the “green soup” devastated the iconic wetland, located in the region of Murcia in southeastern Spain. To this day, although remarkably recovered, the nat…