Malaga's wider area wastewater treatment solution delayed by another five years

The discharge of wastewater into the Guadalhorce river is a problem of enormous environmental, political and financial significance. The legal setback for the wastewater treatment plant (Edar Norte), which was to be built on land between Alhaurín de la Torre and Malaga, has many implications.

The first is that the project is back to square one after 20 years of procedures, including the awarding of the construction contract. The second is that authorities will have to find a new location. The third is that the plans already drawn up cannot be extrapolated. The fourth is that the EU's sanctions for dumping wastewater into the Guadalhorce river keep accumulating. The fifth is that a contract worth no less than 104 million euros must be terminated.

The most optimistic scenario points to another five years to find a way out of this mess. That's assuming everything goes smoothly, because normally that timeframe could even extend to a decade.

The regional ministry of agriculture has already taken immediate action to piece together the puzzle. Firstly, technical sources within the department have said that they do not rule out redesigning the project, originally set to meet the demand from Malaga's westward expansion (Zeta district, Vega de Campanillas, Cortijo Merino, etc.), Alhaurín de la Torre, Alhaurín El Grande, Cártama and Torremolinos.

The growing population of this entire area has clear environmental implications. The capacity to treat all of this wastewater is essential.

The average processing and construction time for a new wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) for a large city ranges from five to ten years. The preliminary administrative and technical processes alone typically take between three and five years, plus an additional two to five years for construction and commissioning.

Certain factors can expedite the process, such as the availability of EU funding or a declaration of general or regional interest.

Since 2006, the urban development plan has included the reservation of land for the future Edar Norte Guadalhorce wastewater treatment plant. Its location in the Mestanza area was the subject of litigation from the outset by a group of approximately 300 residents, who denounced the impact on citrus groves, the area's susceptibility to flooding and, ultimately, the environmental damage.

The residential association launched a legal battle on several fronts. In short, they ultimately succeeded in getting the High Court of Justice of Andalucía (TSJA) to declare the preliminary design of the treatment plant and the expropriation process null and void. The Supreme Court upheld this decision a few days ago, rejecting the appeal of the regional government.

One of the key legal issues in the proceedings revolved around the fact that, according to the Supreme Court, economic criteria took precedence over all others and that the environmental impact assessment was not carried out correctly.

Previously, the Andalusian regional government (Junta) had tried to adapt the project, reducing its physical footprint and impacts by 34 per cent and making numerous technical and environmental improvements. These attempts, however, failed to stop the legal offensive by Vega de Mestanza and Lomas de Cantarrana.

Until the project is put into service, the EU will keep imposing fines for untreated wastewater discharges into the Guadalhorce river. These fines already exceed ten million euros. To make matters worse, the amount has been increasing by more than 600,000 euros every six months since 2018.

According to the Junta, changing the location of the plant and its complementary infrastructure would cause environmental and economic damage, as well as harm to third parties. The regional government also stated that it was important to understand that the wastewater treatment plant was not only located in the Vega de Mestanza area, but also included a whole series of pumping stations and collectors, electrical systems, etc., in other municipalities.

Currently, 5.9 million cubic metres of untreated wastewater flow into the river and the sea annually. To give you an idea of the scale, that's almost 1,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools or the water the city of Malaga consumes in a month and a half.

The Edar Norte is necessary to relieve the workload of the Guadalhorce treatment plant, which Emasa has operated in the industrial park of the same name for 25 years. The plant cannot handle the westward growth of the city and the surrounding area.

In addition to urban wastewater, the treatment plant would also collect industrial wastewater from the area. According to the document, some of the main sources are large companies such as Famadesa, Uvesa, Ubago, Limasam, Postres Montero and Facsa Prolongo.

Another minor issue is the invalidation of the agreement the five municipalities involved have signed, which establishes a protocol for managing this large wastewater treatment plant. In principle, Emasa (Malaga's public company) was to manage the facility.

The project included the implementation of tertiary treatment, which would enable the reuse of reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation. Based on an average flow rate of 50,000 cubic metres per day, reclaimed water production could be sufficient to irrigate an area of more than 3,000 hectares of citrus or subtropical crops.