Axarquía desalination plant draft project ready but limited electricity supply could stall plans

The Axarquía area of Malaga province has left behind the nightmare years of severe drought thanks to the periods of heavy rainfall in the past two years, at least for now.

La Viñuela reservoir, the main source of supply for the Axarquía is at 85 per cent of its capacity, with almost 140 million cubic metres stored, which would have been unthinkable two years ago when it was at just seven per cent and on the verge of being declared a 'dead' reservoir.

The Axarquía needs 22 million cubic metres per year to supply the towns and villages connected to its network. However, irrigation is another issue. The potential for producing recycled water for agriculture amounts to 21 hm3 per year. The River Chíllar wells are also active, which have been key in difficult years, as have the transfers of drinking water from Malaga city.

The third major infrastructure that has been in the pipeline for several years is a desalination plant and after much controversy, the draft project is ready. SUR has learned that the Axarquía's community of fruit and vegetable farmers, as well as the public water company, Axaragua, as users of the future plant, have already received a copy of the draft projectraft they had commissioned.

The project can now be submitted to Acuamed (the public eater company which forms part of Spain's central government) for supervision and to begin the process of putting the project design and construction out to tender. However, the biggest obstacle that the future plant now faces is that there is currently no capacity to provide the 21 MW of electricity it needs to operate.

A solution will have to be found to a problem that is sadly very common in provinces like Malaga: the lack of electrical infrastructure is holding back planned developments in an increasingly demanding context.

Initially, the desalination plant was to be located in the vicinity of the El Ingenio shopping centre, but it will finally be located in the area known as Las Campiñuelas, in the Camino de Torrox area of Vélez Málaga. It will have a capacity of 25 cubic hectometres per year in the first phase, but everything will be prepared so that this can be doubled if necessary. In fact, all the seawater intake and water delivery networks are designed for this capacity. The necessary space is also included in the land.

The Vélez desalination plant will have mixed use, with approximately half of the flow destined for agriculture and the other half for urban supply. Its financing, initially estimated at 100 million euros, will be provided by the central government, which has already committed to financing the project. However, this is borrowed money, advanced, which users will have to repay in the form of a fee over fifty years.

The energy requirements of a plant of this type are always very demanding. The extremely high pressures of the reverse osmosis processes and the operation of racks, membranes and filters demand it. That's not to mention the saltwater pumping and rejection systems. Furthermore, a desalination plant operates practically non-stop, although more or fewer lines can be put into operation depending on the needs at any given time.

It is not the only desalination plant in the preliminary design phase in the province. On the western Costa del Sol, Acosol and the Andalusian regional government have put out to tender the first technical studies for a plant of around 20 hm3 (10 in the first phase), which will be located between Torremolinos and Mijas and will complement the one in Marbella.