Drought crisis
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Chus Heredia
Marbella
Friday, 2 August 2024, 12:04
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The western Costa's desalination plant in Marbella was opened in 2005 to convert seawater for general consumption by filtering out the salt. But over the years it had become inefficient and produced less and less clean water. That should change from December when it will be producing 20 cubic hectometres (hm3) a year and making a bigger contribution to the water used on the coast from Torremolinos to Manilva. That area needs 3,500 litres of water a second in high season and the Marbella plant will be able to produce 650 of them.
The work is being carried out in two parts by the regional government and Acosol, the public water supplier for the area. It has been made difficult by the need to keep the plant operating in the meantime as, with the drought, nobody dares to turn it off.
The filters are arranged in production lines and part one of the upgrade has meant updating six working lines. This will get the capacity up from 6 hm3 to 12 hm3 a year. Part two involves boosting the number of lines from six to eight and reaching the target of 20 hm3.
Both parts have been done in parallel. Part one was delayed by hold ups of supplies due to problems with shipping lanes in the Middle East. However the second part is ahead of schedule.
Although the full effect won't be seen until December, on production lines that have already been finished, the quality of the water has significantly improved with the amount of salt in the water getting through the filters half of what it was before.
"The first results we are getting are very positive and we are happy. The better the quality of the water, the more output we can go for," said head of Acosol, Matilde Mancha.
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