Costa del Sol water supplier warns mains pipes are in 'dangerous' condition

For more than ten years the technicians of the Costa del Sol's public water company, Acosol, have been warning about the "terrible" state of the supply network along the western strip of the coast.

SUR has been told that the requests for investment from the Junta de Andalucía have been constant, with regular reports and communications of breakages which highlight the dangerous state of the mains water infrastructure.

The rate of ruptures is such that the technicians have advised "putting some sections out of service", as, regardless of the "risk of the lack of supply in areas of the Costa del Sol that are affected by supply cuts caused by burst pipes, there is a real risk of these causing very serious personal and material damage as they cross urban centres, residential developments, roads or motorways, and the breaks are becoming increasingly explosive".

The frequency of breakages is increasing and there have been cases where the high pressure pipe has burst twice in the same stretch. Marbella, Estepona, Benalmádena and Mijas are just a few of the municipalities that have been affected. "Only luck has prevented us from having human casualties," warn the technicians.

Currently, the different public authorities responsible for the development of water infrastructure are putting emergency works for desalination and storage of water resources on the table, however, there is an equally harsh reality reflected by the technicians: the Costa del Sol does not have the capacity to transport this water. The current system was planned in 1972 and the population has grown five times since then.