Last Saturday, after the Christmas lights were switched on, the Rio Manzanares riverbank was illuminated in PP blue. Unlike the promotion that the city of Madrid gives of 13 million bombs or giant lighting installations to mark this time of year, the lights of Manzanares are switched on without warning, surprising veterans and environmentalists who left more than a year ago wondering if this wouldn’t happen. “It was like mail, because Saben que nos enterábamos los hubiésemos were somehow gathered, and they were exploring the image,” says Susana de la Higuera, president of the Vecinal Pasillo Verde-Imperial association.
In the summer of 2024, the Ayuntamiento installed the lights with the intention of turning them on during last Christmas, but the Vecinal Association and the organization Ecologists in Action submitted a controversial administrative appeal to the Juzgados to stop this. Shortly after, they also called for precautionary measures, with the aim of halting all measures and thus “avoiding damage to the biodiversity of the river so that there is no strict judgment.” Veterinarians and experts denounced the damage caused by this light pollution to animals living in the river, especially birds, and presented four expert reports on the ruling in the case to justify it.
When the light came out last November, the month in which the lights are turned on every year, the Manzanares islands remained at a standstill because the precautionary measures did not yield any results. But in July of this year, the judge finally said no. “While the precautionary measures were not resolved, we were calm because it meant that the lights could not be turned off, but this year they could only do that,” comments de la Higuera. Although the contentious administrative appeal is still ongoing, the council has set out to make good on its promise – which it never asked for, in the second week – to light up the river’s water.
The council was notified as of Sunday, via a press release, that the lights in Manzanares had finally been turned on. There are 61 LED bomb projectors installed 560 meters from the base, specifically in prey number six, between the tilted bridge and the Andorra Walk, and they work remotely to change the intensity and colors of the lights. The lighting will be activated between Friday and Sunday from 18.30 to 22.00, but one detail that caught the attention of the elderly and environmentalists is that the announcement explains that from next January 30 the hours will be adjusted depending on the sunlight, which means that the lights will reach the ground for. Christmas, the bell for the whole year.
“We are also concerned about what is said that this is a pilot project, so that it could extend across the river or other parts of the city,” if you want Lola Méndez, member of both Ecologists in Action and Pasillo Verde Imperial and president of the area. She, like the rest of Madrid’s Ríono lo dudan, is certain it will extend.
Mendes emphasizes that at these moments it is not possible to assess the harm that these “disco” lights will cause to animals and plants, but that will be in the spring, when the migration season arrives, which is the moment when it will be known whether the birds will be able to establish their polluted birds there or whether they will be forced to migrate elsewhere. For her, the council clearly knows that the lights are harmful because they say in their press release that the installation “was developed with solutions that reduce light pollution” and that the lights are “located in a river channel, limiting light emission to the sky.”
One justification given by the municipal government is that the lights increase the security of the area. “It’s a complete lie,” says de la Higuera Tagant. “There is no problem of insecurity in this area, and if it was more central, it would make sense to install the lighting in the street, rather than in the river basin.” The president of the local association says that this measure focuses more on tourism than in the past – something that is not being ignored at the moment because the lights affect them directly – because this is a completely “non-essential” project.