Drought crisis
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Chus Heredia
Malaga
Friday, 2 August 2024, 16:18
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A 2.4 kilometre pipeline carries the untreated water from La Concepción reservoir between Marbella and Istán to El Verde drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) on the Costa del Sol. The water arrives usually mixed with the output from the desalination plant. Everything is close by. So, since the desalination plant is being expanded in December to recover some 20 cubic hectometres (hm3) per year, it goes without saying that the authorities will also need to renovate the plant as its facilities have run out of steam trying to handle the peaks in demand to produce all the tap water needed by the Western Costa del Sol: 90 hm3 per year and with hefty, seasonal demands. The current output of 2,300 litres per second will be increased to 4,300.
Dealing with a lot of water flow at the same time is not easy. Those in charge of the Junta's regional Ministry of Agriculture were quick to understand this when, together with the Mancomunidad (the alliance of the town halls to the west of the Costa del Sol) and Acosol (the publicly-run water company for the Mancomunidad towns), they visited the facilities where the work will be carried out. The entire Costa del Sol urgently needed to strengthen its water treatment systems.
Both parties have got down to work: Acosol drafted the preliminary project, which already has the green light from the Junta, and the Andalusian regional government has earmarked 36 million euros for the build in next year's budget. This is the number that will appear in the accounts, while awaiting the approval of the Treasury, according to the Agriculture ministry. The work is part of the 594 million euros announced by agriculture minister Ramón Fernández Pacheco that are linked to water-related issues for the region, part of which also includes Acosol's investment plan.
At the same time Acosol and the Junta will share the financing and building work relating to the current reservoir, which has many problems with leaks and will need practically rebuilding and enlarging, plus a further reservoir up above the current one. Current storage capacity is minimal and causing real problems.
There will be two identical tanks, divided into two containers of 28,000 m3 each, giving a total of 120,000 m3. That's half a day of unrestricted water consumption at the height of summer. Plenty of breathing space to operate in an extreme scenario.
At El Verde DWTP the two large, water storage tanks will be 169 metres long and 67 metres wide with 6-metre thick walls. Acosol will invest 17.8 million euros and the Junta 6.3 million euros, both included in the regional government's budget. Therefore, the projected investment exceeds 53 million euros. Such a big spending commitment shows the importance of the action needing to be taken, its strategic importance for the Costa del Sol and, above all, to meet the projected demographic and tourist growth.
Acosol is responsible for the new tank, and the current one will be kept operational during the build. For the second phase, run by the Junta, the new tank will be used. The objective is none other than to do the necessary work to meet current and future supply needs.
The initial extension project was halted by the Junta in 2009 due to the economic crisis. The construction period is 20 months. It is expected the project will be put out to tender at the beginning of next year, when the project goes live.
The water treatment capacity will be increased to about 4,300 litres per second. This is equivalent to a population of around 2 million inhabitants. As an example, Malaga city averages an injection into the drinking water supply of 1,500 litres per second. In summer the norm is that some 2,000 l/s are needed on the coast in May, some 2,500 l/s in June, 3,000 l/s in July, 3,100 in August and 2,500 in September, in the absence of restrictions.
The cleaning of the filters causes water losses and, to avoid this, it is necessary to undertake the extension work. These are significant losses, equivalent to the water supply to a municipality the size of Istán, so this work would resolve that issue.
Back in 2005, the regional government approved and financed an emergency action, requested by Acosol, for the water company itself to undertake a project entitled 'construction of a 1,500 cubic metre capacity tank for the recovery of used water from filter-washing water from the Río Verde DWTP'. The work was completed in 2006 and the tank was in service until the beginning of 2009, when it was hit by - and eventually put out of service by - the work that was stopped to extend the drinking water plant. Hopefully this time around it can all go ahead as planned to ensure the water in all the taps along the Costa del Sol.
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