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The much-needed upgrade to the Marbella desalination plant on the western strip of the Costa del Sol has entered its final phase with the crucial project set to be finished by the end of March. The work is designed to recover the capacity of 20 million cubic metres the plant was initially designed for after it was downgraded to just six hectometres.
The regional ministry of agriculture tackled the upgrade, in coordination with water supply company Acosol, in two phases. The first phase was completed last autumn. The second, already 50% complete, is scheduled for completion at the end of March, according to sources from the department headed by Junta minister Ramón Fernández Pacheco. This phase was contracted for 4.36 million euros.
The Marbella desalination plant was activated in 2005 after the ministry of environment, then led by Cristina Narbona, recovered it. The big complication on paper was to be able to maintain the plant at a high level in a time of drought without the usual annual rest breaks for fine-tuning. However, a delay in receiving materials and components for the plant due to the crisis of the Red Sea and the Suez Canal was an unforeseen complication.
The upgrade work also features certain tests to check the operation of the desalination plant. So far, the salt content of the water obtained has been reduced by half.
An analysis of one of the lines produced very positive data where salt was reduced by half: it is at 320 microsiemens/cm. And each new line is producing 304m3 per hour. This salt level is the lowest in Malaga province, after Antequera. Another key indicator of water quality is the hardness, the amount of lime in the water.
In the second phase of work, the desalination plant's sand filters are being renewed, which will allow a water pre-treatment capacity of six to eight lines, which is the maximum available to the plant in Marbella, and renewing the racks in the remaining two lines to reach eight. The contractor for the seven-million-euro project is Medio Ambiente, Residuos y Agua Marea.
Desalination plants guarantee a stable water supply where they provide their services, they are not suitable for large variations, for example, to meet sporadic peaks; although, as they are modular, they can operate at maximum or reduced performance. Their production capacity means that in winter, more water can be saved from the reservoir, given that, with far fewer people on the coast, they can provide 50% of the supply.
The year that this plant produced the most water was 2012, when it desalinated 10 million cubic metres. The real average has been 5.5, given that there is a month in which there is usually a technical stoppage. One condition that must be understood is that the maximum production of the plant when the work is finished will be 650 litres per second. The coast demands up to 3,500 in high season. The Verde water treatment plant, which is currently in the tendering phase, is also going to be upgraded and will have a capacity of up to 4,000 litres per second.
The upgraded desalination plant in Marbella is also intended to put an end to a cyclical problem that has always kept Acosol's technicians on tenterhooks. The desalinated water is mixed in an upstream pipe with the raw water coming from the reservoir and sent to the Verde water treatment plant. When the water from the reservoir comes with high concentrations of organic matter such as leaves and soil, a chemical reaction takes place with the desalinated water which generates trihalomethanes, volatile substances which, if they exceed certain quantities, are potentially carcinogenic. The control of these elements is in real time, so there is no risk to health, but it does require adjustments and partial shutdowns.
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