Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie on the photocall for As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Spanish diamond enterprise sparks outrage over ‘unsustainable’ water use
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Leo’s diamond dream below risk as Trujillo manufacturing unit faces water struggle.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s glittering diamond empire in Spain is dealing with a rocky future – and it’s not due to dodgy gems. The Titanic star’s high-tech manufacturing unit in Trujillo, Caceres, is making waves for all of the unsuitable causes in the intervening time, with livid locals and environmentalists warning that its water consumption may depart the city excessive and dry.
A ‘titanic’ funding
DiCaprio-backed Diamond Foundry kicked off check manufacturing on January 17, marking Europe’s first-ever diamond manufacturing plant. The Hollywood heartthrob – the corporate’s greatest investor – has poured a cool €275 million into the primary section; a determine set to skyrocket to €675 million when totally operational.
By the top of 2025, the manufacturing unit goals to have over 100 reactors churning out lab-grown diamonds, a futuristic various to conventional mining. However not everyone seems to be dazzled by DiCaprio’s newest blockbuster enterprise transfer.
The hidden value of sparkle?
Native environmental group Plataforma Salvemos el Berrocal has issued a stark warning: the manufacturing unit’s annual water consumption may exceed 730,000 cubic metres – greater than the complete inhabitants of Trujillo makes use of in a yr.
This mission was accredited with out correctly assessing the affect on water assets. It’s utterly unsustainable, critics argue. And with the manufacturing unit at present reliant on Trujillo’s consuming water provide, many are questioning how lengthy the city can preserve the faucets operating earlier than residents are left parched.
Public backlash boils over
On February 7, considerations got here to a head in a heated assembly hosted by Asociación 25 de Marzo. Consultants, together with Ecologistas en Acción’s Fernando Teijón and Aquanex director David Bejarano, raised the alarm concerning the dire penalties of prioritising a Hollywood-backed enterprise over native wants.
“Proper now, the manufacturing unit has no water recycling infrastructure, which means it’s competing with the neighborhood for important assets,” warned Bejarano. “Long run, this simply isn’t viable.”
A disaster with no clear repair
The plain answer? Put money into water infrastructure to help the manufacturing unit with out draining Trujillo dry. However insiders say that’s unlikely, given the dearth of coordination between authorities companies.
Environmentalists argue that pouring public cash right into a mission that advantages a non-public firm over the native inhabitants is nothing in need of scandalous. “In a area the place water is scarce, we ought to be interested by individuals first – not diamonds,” mentioned Teijón.
Is Leo’s diamond enterprise a sinking ship?
For now, Diamond Foundry insists enterprise will proceed as deliberate, disregarding considerations about water shortages. But when the manufacturing unit doesn’t discover a sustainable technique to supply its provide, DiCaprio’s European diamond dream may hit an iceberg of its personal.
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