Air, soil, water and biota are crucial for life. Research is therefore key to ensure that they are not compromised. UCAM, through its Research Group 'Technologies Applied to Environmental Health', is monitoring and studying all these essential components of the environment, applying the most advanced technologies that allow it to measure specific parameters in real time. ‘We have to understand that we humans are also part of the environment,’ says Nuria Vela, principal investigator of the UCAM group, and ‘any damage we do to it can have repercussions for us. This is why she says that her work ‘is ambitious, but therein lies our task, trying to detect the problems that exist in certain areas in order to simultaneously rectify said problems’.

Getting ahead of the so called 'green soup’

Among its projects is the monitoring of the water exchange zone between the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean. ‘We know how to recognise episodes of turbidity, so called 'green soup' or species mortality; a consequence of the fact that there are analytical parameters that are not working properly’, emphasises Nuria Vela, which is why it is necessary to be able to measure them, because ‘if I am continuously monitoring what is happening, I will be able to predict it’. 

Another challenge they are working on is related to agriculture. ‘We see that farmers are angry, they are protesting against certain restrictive measures,’ and the research group sees improving soil health as a solution to some of their problems related to water or fertiliser use. ‘We can help them devise a strategy in which, while respecting European regulations, they can increase their crop yields and do not have to abandon their crops,’ she says.