Water crisis
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Reclaimed water is water obtained from the treatment of wastewater, which is no longer merely a waste product to be returned to the environment in good condition, but offers an increasingly wide range of options for saving water being taken from the reservoirs and wells in Malaga province. However, there are still a number of hurdles to overcome in order to get more out of these resources, something that the Costa del Sol has pioneered for the irrigation of golf courses.
These difficulties include key issues such as increasingly demanding legislation, lack of pipelines, the quality of the water obtained and a certain mistrust that still persists in some sectors.
After taking a long look at the data from the three main water management companies in Malaga province (Acosol, Emasa and Axaragua), it turns out that only one third of the reclaimed water produced is sold. More and more treatment plants have tertiary treatment facilities, but there is still work to be done. In any case the province can currently produce 60 cubic hectometres of reclaimed water per year. This is, for comparison, the water consumption of Malaga city for a little less than 18 months. Unfortunately, the other two thirds go to the sea.
"Reclaimed water and its possible use for public and private irrigation is the water future for our Costa del Sol. We are currently supplying 7hm3 per year of the 40 hm3 we produce. At the end of this year 2024 we will be able to reach 10 hm3, but our objective is to continue growing with a short-term target of 15 to 20 hm3 per year. This would be a great relief for our reservoir and water resources on the Western Costa del Sol, as currently public and private irrigation is carried out with drinking water," said Matilde Mancha, CEO of Acosol.
The joint venture is currently working with the local councils in the area along two lines of action. On the one hand, they want to complete the procedures to obtain authorisations for public irrigation and watering and, on the other, a project has been started to extend this resource to private urban irrigation. "To this end, we have an ambitious investment plan that includes numerous actions worth more than 200 million euros for our sewerage network, treatment plants, tertiary treatment and reclaimed water networks, with the aim of offering water of the highest quality that allows us to extend its use", she stated.
On this point, Mancha is adamant: "This is the way forward, reclaimed water is clean water, perfectly treated, that can be used for other purposes beyond the irrigation of golf courses on the coast, which is already a leading example at a national level."
In the Axarquia, Jorge Martín - the head of Axaragua - explained that the treatment plants in his area already produce 12 hm3 per year (Rincón, Vélez, Torrox and Algarrobo, since Nerja has not yet been accepted due to various problems). In addition to these, there are the 9 hm3 per year that Malaga has been sending from the Peñón del Cuervo wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) for some months now. Martín explained that, depending on the rainfall, all, half or none of the flow is used for irrigation on the right bank of the Guaro plan (an ongoing plan to manage irrigation and more in this important area for agriculture). Also that the balance at the end of the year will be around 50%. He points out the importance of building reservoirs to store this regenerated water in order to achieve greater solvency, something on which he said work is already under way.
Emasa, in Malaga city, recently incorporated the aforementioned tertiary plant at Peñón del Cuervo as a result of investments by the regional government's department of agriculture. Currently it produces just 3.6 hm3 in the Guadalhorce, which is destined to cool Naturgy's combined cycle power station. For this reason they have a project to irrigate parks and gardens in the western area of the city, some water also goes to golf courses (El Candado, Guadalhorce) and they plan to increase the capacity of the Guadalhorce WWTP to 15 hm3, which will be used for agricultural irrigation and golf. In addition, the project - drafted by Narval - plans to change the discharge point to recharge aquifers in the Lower Guadalhorce, another of the issues underpinning the new uses of this recycled water.
There are many projects on the table that will increase provincial production capacity to 101.4 hm3 in the medium term. Even the private sector is joining in with its concerns. In fact, DCoop, the olive-growing giant, has put an ambitious project on the table to opt for these uses.
At the moment, the treatment plants already operating with tertiary treatment in the province are those of Manilva, Guadalmansa, Marbella-La Víbora, Cala de Mijas, Cerrado del Águila, Arroyo de la Miel, Guadalhorce, Peñón del Cuervo, Rincón de la Victoria, Algarrobo, Vélez Málaga and Torrox. Also, in the pipeline, so to speak, and linked in some cases to the successive drought decrees, are the extensions to the Guadalhorce treatment plant, the Nerja treatment plant, the Norte treatment plant that will group together the discharges from part of Malaga, Cártama and Los Alhaurines, Antequera and Nerja.
The fight for water quality is another open front. Malaga's provincial authority, the Diputación, is trying to tackle through further investment the issue of saline intrusion into these networks, which seriously damages irrigation. It has 6 million euros under way for underground water collectors in Algarrobo, Vélez-Málaga, Marbella and Estepona.
According to AEDyR, the Spanish association for water desalination and reuse, "reclaimed water in Spain is widely used in agriculture (61.9%), where it represents a vital source for irrigation in arid and semi-arid areas. It is also used for irrigation of parks and gardens and leisure areas (18%), in industrial processes (17.4%), in sewer cleaning and/or street cleaning (2%) and in the recharge of aquifers (0.8%)." Yet still only 7-13% of the volume of all wastewater is reused.
The question is, what is the potential for growth of this resource? The new Royal Decree, approved a few days ago and repealing the 2007 decree, offers some clues. Right now, almost everything can use this treated water, except domestic water supply (unless in the event of a catastrophe), recreational bathing areas, hospitals or the cultivation of bivalves and filter-feeding molluscs. Each use of this water is properly assessed for the quality and health parameters that the water must meet, an issue that is further complicated by the complex process of authorisations.
To understand the issue better, here is a simple example: reclaimed water does not have to be of the same quality to irrigate an avocado as it does for a potato or a tomato because it is not touching that fruit. Nor is watering forests and hills the same as watering a private garden. It is a very simple way of understanding that each scenario has its own rules and standards.
In general, reclaimed water can be used for irrigation and watering, agriculture, livestock, forestry, the food industry (with some exemptions), industrial uses, irrigation of golf courses, aquifer recharge, ornamental fountains without public access to that water, wetlands, aquaculture and refrigeration.
Qualified sources told SUR that the new regulatory framework, while seeking more quality and new uses, also increases bureaucracy and red tape. In fact, up to three ministries can be involved in the mix, when perhaps it should be for those at the coal face in each region to decide.
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