Water crisis
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Speaking out politically in favour of building reservoirs has ceased to be commonplace for many years, strange as it may seem with drought status still active in several parts of Malaga province. The controversies arising from Spain's national hydrological plan and territorial grievances put issues such as water transfers and dams in the spotlight, while in Europe 'softer' voices and arguments were gaining ground. However, Andalucía's regional ministry of Agriculture has once again put water back on the table. The Junta is promoting the first studies to come out on two new, strategically key reservoirs, timing well with the ongoing drought that the province is experiencing. The first is the Gibralmedina reservoir on the Cadiz-Malaga provincial border and the second is the Cerro Blanco, or Río Grande, reservoir in the area of Guaro and Coín.
The regional minister in charge of water management, Ramón Fernández Pacheco, was very clear on Monday during his visit to Malaga. "These are two reservoirs that we consider fundamental for two reasons. The first is to gain stored water capacity. Secondly, because of their ability to maintain the required flood lamination function. Here in the Guadalhorce we have seen this very recently. It is necessary that our rivers are in perfect condition and that they have the infrastructure to guarantee people's safety," he said.
600
million euros is what it would cost to create the reservoir and the supply pipelines to the Costa del Sol from the Gibralmedina reservoir. The project has already been drawn up.
Fernández Pacheco also revealed that his ministry has meetings scheduled with central government in which the Junta wants to put on the table the need to agree on these costly projects. "They are of general interest to the State, but the Andalusian regional government is fully prepared to do this, as we understand that they are fundamental. In fact, we are working on the projects and we are holding talks with the Ministry [in Madrid] with a view to being able to agree on the go-ahead in the future."
The Gibralmedina dam and reservoir has had a project drafted by the Junta since last summer. It would regulate the Guadiaro river and its border would straddle the provinces of Cadiz and Malaga. The most important aspect is that the future reservoir would bring water back to Malaga province: about 15 million cubic metres of unfiltered water per year to be treated by Acosol on the Western Costa del Sol.
In reality, there are two projects. The first is building the reservoir itself with a project cost of 400 million euros. The second is the supply pipelines from Cadiz to the Costa del Sol, amounting to 200 million euros. The reservoir will be almost twice as large as originally planned and will be around 100 million cubic metres, equivalent to the annual consumption of the Costa del Sol). It will provide water for both agricultural and urban use.
The modifications to bring water supply back to Malaga province took the technical project to 437,000 euros, an increase of 19.2% on the initial budget.
45
million cubic metres was the capacity that was thought of in Spain's national hydrological plan for the Cerro Blanco dam on the Río Grande. Later, the idea was modified to opt for a diversion dam of around 25. Right now, what we have is a technical specification to start the study of alternatives.
With regard to the Cerro Blanco or Rio Grande reservoir, the regional ministry has completed the tender documents for a study of alternatives to see the best option for harnessing the resources of this river and, secondly, the construction project for the chosen solution.
The project for a dam to regulate the Río Grande is controversial, but it is of unequivocal interest to institutions such as Malaga city council, which sees it as key not only because it would provide insurance for the city's water supply and agricultural irrigation, but also, as many engineers agree, because it would serve to better control the flooding of the Guadalhorce river, of which Río Grande is a tributary.
Other voices, mainly from left-wing parties and environmental groups, but also some technical experts, warn that the Sierra de las Nieves and the Guadalhorce river mouth would be affected. The impact on the coastline is also likely to be high given that, with the Guadalmar coastal area receding due to erosion, the stopping of further sediment input would be a controversial decision.
Still, all this must be addressed in the study of alternatives and the corresponding environmental assessment phase of this project that has been in and out of the public debate for some 20 years.
The Cerro Blanco reservoir is a proposal from the 1990s, included in the National Hydrological Plan. It had a capacity of between 45 and 50 million cubic metres and was to be located somewhere around the municipalities of Guaro and Coín. However, it was strongly contested by politicians and agricultural and environmental groups because of its effects on the Sierra de las Nieves.
That original dam idea was discarded and the thinking evolved into a weir that would feed into the much larger Aljaima reservoir, this time to be located very much between Guaro and Coín, with the idea of using 20 million cubic metres per year (more than a third of Malaga city's consumption). It would cost 57 million euros and would involve a large, 38-kilometre pipeline to Aljaima first and then to El Atabal. The maximum planned flow was 4,000 litres per second. The feasibility report was issued by the state company Acuamed in March 2006, but nothing came of that idea either.
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