A judge in Sanlúcar la Mayor has opened a new legal track over the wells at the Aljóbar farm. The issue is no longer whether water extraction harmed the aquifer, but whether a court order keeping the wells sealed was breached. That distinction matters: the provisional closure of the earlier water case did not make an existing precautionary measure irrelevant.
According to El Mundo, Judge Pablo Aragón ordered materials to be sent for an investigation involving Eurotécnica Agraria SA, the farm’s owner, and Luis Martínez de Irujo Hohenlohe, identified as the person responsible for the agricultural operation. The reported basis is a possible offence of disobedience of judicial authority or breach of a precautionary measure.
The key element is a Seprona report cited by the newspaper. When officers went to Aljóbar on 22 September to unseal the wells after the earlier investigation had ended, they found that the wells had already been operating for about two months. The report, as described by El Mundo, does not establish the precise date pumping resumed.
The earlier case was provisionally closed on 10 September. The judge found insufficient evidence that unauthorised extraction at the farm had caused a relevant impact on the aquifer. That ruling addressed a different issue: environmental impact and possible liability for taking the water. The new inquiry concerns the reported operation of wells while the sealing order remained in force.
El Mundo also reports that the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority legalised the wells during the earlier investigation, but that this later authorisation did not itself allow the seals to be removed. The essential questions are when the wells resumed operation, who made that decision and what the relevant permits covered. The supplied material contains no response from the company or the people under investigation. Those questions require examination, but the new inquiry is not a finding of guilt.
Sources
- El Mundo · Source date: 2026-11-12
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-12