Environment rejects expanding the Caparroso pig macro-farm to 5,212 spaces

The General Directorate of Environment of the Government of Navarra has issued an unfavorable environmental impact statement for the expansion project of a pig fattening farm in Caparroso, which aimed to increase from 2,712 to 5,212 spaces. The decision is contained in Resolution 1126E/2026, dated October 4, published in the Official Gazette of Navarra number 218, dated October 30, 2026. The environmental body concludes that the activity would have adverse effects on the environment, particularly on the “Ebro Alluvial: Lodosa-Tudela” groundwater body, which is already affected by diffuse nitrate pollution.

The resolution is signed by the Director General of Environment, Ana Bretaña de la Torre, and concludes the proceedings promoted by Israel Pérez Aicua, owner of the farm located on plot 330 (formerly 490 and 491) of polygon 6 of the municipality of Caparroso. The farm had held an integrated environmental authorization, authorization for non-urbanizable land, and an environmental impact statement since Resolution 387E/2019, dated July 3.

The project is processed through the ordinary route of Annex I, group 1, heading a) 3rd of Law 21/2013, of December 9, on environmental assessment, which requires an environmental impact statement prior to administrative authorization. The promoter submitted the application on July 21, 2022, and the public information announcement was published in BON number 62, dated March 28, 2023.

Two new sheds and increasing water consumption

The current facility has 2,712 fattening spaces and the following buildings and infrastructure:

• Shed 1, of 1,278.2 m² and 1,560 fattening spaces.
• Shed 2, with 1,152 pigs in 933.85 m² and a tool warehouse of 157.44 m².
• Entrance room of 19.7 m² and technical room of 17.6 m².
• Slurry lagoon with a useful capacity of 3,200 m³.
• Water tank of 165 m³ and chlorinator of 8.0 m³.

The expansion required the construction of two identical sheds (sheds 3 and 4) of 1,355.7 m² each and 1,250 spaces per shed, a loading dock, four silos, two technical rooms with solar panels, and a water pond of 1,141.50 m³. The projected consumption amounts to 10,300 m³ per year (618 m³ for cleaning and 9,682 m³ for animal consumption), with extraction from the irrigation canal of the Acequia Bayunga Irrigation Community, in the Aragón river system, which necessitated an expansion of the concession.

The veto from the basin authority

The farm and the plots receiving slurry in Caparroso and Peralta are located in the “Ebro-Aragón” nitrate pollution vulnerable zone, delimited by Foral Order 147E/2020, dated September 15. The groundwater body shows good quantitative status, but poor chemical status, with an overall “poor” status in 2019.

In its report dated April 28, 2023, the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation warned that slurry will contribute to the diffuse pollution of the aquifer and considered the application of manure as fertilizer on lands near the farm to be especially critical. The body noted that the affected mass presents average annual concentrations equal to or greater than 60 mg/l of nitrates and concluded that the activity implies a high risk to water quality; therefore, it issued an unfavorable report on the project in application of article 8.4 of Royal Decree 47/2022, of January 18, and due to incompatibility with the environmental objectives of the Ebro Hydrological Plan.

Fifteen consultations, two allegations, and no alternatives

During the processing, fifteen consultations were carried out with administrations and interested parties. Two allegations were received, from the Sustrai Erakuntza Foundation and from Julia Marina Goñi Montero, and six reports from the Livestock and Territory and Landscape services, from the Pollution Prevention, Environmental Impact and Registry, Movable Property and Archaeology sections, and from the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation.

The Environmental Evaluation Section of the Biodiversity and Fish Management Service verified that the documentation provided did not include alternative solutions that resolved the critical aspects of the basin authority’s unfavorable report: it was the same document from June 2022 already presented in the previous phase. For this reason, it proposed to issue an unfavorable declaration, which the general directorate adopts in the first ruling of the resolution.

The declaration prevents the authorization of the expansion, as the environmental evaluation is a prerequisite for administrative authorization. Pursuant to article 47.6 of Law 21/2013, the environmental report shall not be subject to appeal, without prejudice to those that may proceed against the act of project authorization. The resolution is notified to the Pollution Prevention Section of the Circular Economy and Innovation Service and to the Environmental Guard of the Tudela district. The same BON number 218 publishes another unfavorable declaration, Resolution 1131E/2026, for a beef cattle fattening facility of 1,910 animals in Cadreita, which outlines a restrictive criterion by the environmental body toward new farms in the Ribera.

Source: Official Gazette of Navarra, number 218, of October 30, 2026, section 1.7 Others, pages 38588-38590 (official reference: Resolution 1126E/2026, F2613256).