-U14775325433TIQ-1200x840@Diario%20Sur.jpg)
Drought crisis
Sections
Highlight
Sections
Highlight
Chus Heredia
Tuesday, 30 July 2024, 16:48
Opciones para compartir
The Costa del Sol needs 90 cubic hectometres in round terms every year to guarantee its water supply. The president of the Mancomunidad association of town halls on the western Costa del Sol, Manuel Cardeña, and the CEO of Acosol, Matilde Mancha, appeared on Monday 29 July to reflect on their first year in office.
On the agenda was the 350-million-euro five-year investment plan to tackle the problem of water supply and drought. Recovering the idea of the second desalination plant on the Costa del Sol is included in the plan and according to Cardeña, the first part of the project (preliminary project and feasibility study) are expected to be put out to tender in the autumn.
The exact location and capacity are yet to be determined, but it will be built somewhere between Torremolinos and Mijas. "We need that second desalination plant somewhere on the coast to give us peace of mind for the coming years," Cardeña said, adding that the growing popularity of the Costa del Sol as a place to live and visit "is already making us think about new resources because more and more people want to come and live here and we need infrastructures. That is what we are working on".
The Mancomunidad wants central government, through Acuamed, to take charge of the project. In fact, Acosol's intention is to make progress on the technical document to present it to the state-run company, which will build the Axarquía desalination plant in Vélez-Málaga.
Acuamed awarded a contract for a desalination plant in Mijas-Fuengirola and after three years of paperwork, in July 2008, the contract for the work was awarded to a joint venture formed by Sacyr, Sadyt and Construcciones Vera, for 61.7 million euros. The financing was provided equally by Acuamed and the regional government, with 50 per cent coming from European funds.
The desalination plant was to produce about 20 cubic hectometres of drinking water per year. However, the project was abandoned, to cut a long story short, because of problems of soil and electrical power, as well as the high price of the resulting water. But no one doubted that it was the insurance that the coast needed. And few do now.
As an alternative plan, Acosol has informally spoken to companies in the sector and there would be a clear interest in a public-private partnership, a long-term construction and concession system. However, this is not the priority option the public company is working on.
La Concepción reservoir, which can store up to 57 hm3, is a very efficient resource due to its capacity to respond to rainfall and its good design, as it not only regulates the Río Verde, but also, by means of a system of transfers, the resources of the subsidiary reservoirs of Guadalmina, Guadalmansa and Guadaiza are sent to the reservoir.
The Marbella desalination plant is an additional resource to add to the picture, which in December will provide 20 hm3. Then there are other secondary supplies such as wells (Guadalmansa, Padrón, Fuengirola...), resources such as the Sierra de Mijas used by Torremolinos and the portable desalination plant plan for Estepona.
But to complete and exceed the 90 cubic hectometres needed, and taking into account future population projections, the western Costa del Sol needs a stable guarantee. As things stand, the water supply is only guaranteed for little more than seven months.
This margin will increase in December with the two phases of the aforementioned extension of the Marbella desalination plant. However, according to the Mancomunidad and Acosol staff, a stable supply is needed. And that is why they have proposed to recover the old idea of a desalination plant of around 20 hm3 in the Torremolinos or Mijas area.
Another vital long-term issue is the future Gibralmedina reservoir, between Cadiz and Málaga, whose project was modified due to the insistence of the Mancomunidad and Acosol to receive water from the Guadiaro and not treated by Arcgisa (Campo de Gibraltar) as was intended in the original specifications. The Junta has already summoned them to present a project that would ensure an extra 15 hm3 of untreated water to the coast. Now the Andalusian government must negotiate with the state for funding and start the environmental procedures. We are talking about the long term.
Another fundamental aspect that Acosol wants to work on in its investment plan is the improvement of the connections, a water highway, which, thanks to the pumping of Rojas (Churriana, about to be completed), is reversible and up to 500 litres per second to all directions of the province. The volume of the pipeline renovation projects exceeds 300 million and will probably be shared with the Junta de Andalucía.
And, in order to reduce dependence on the main resources, the Acosol team is obsessed with reclaimed water for irrigation and flushing. Right now, 40 hm3 are produced annually and only 7 are sold. "We can take it to all the municipalities, we can use it for irrigation, for irrigating golf courses... and we can save pressure on the reservoir and the desalination plant," Cardeña said. The fact is that every resource generated that is used has an overwhelming logic: it saves its equivalent in drinking water. The procedures and permits, especially sanitary ones, are not always easy.
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Reporta un error en esta noticia
Necesitas ser suscriptor para poder votar.