The wells that are key to balancing the water supply to the Costa del Sol

Squaring the circle of supplying municipalities in the populated strip from Torremolinos to Manilva on the Costa del Sol is a challenge and has its accounts clearly marked out.

While the capacity of the Marbella desalination plant is being restored to produce 20 hectometres per year, the level of water in the La Concepción reservoir needs to be maintained over time for it to be 'decreed' officially out of drought. Meanwhile, an ambitious investment plan is being implemented by Acosol and the Junta has put out to tender the work to upgrade the Verde treatment plant.

Already, in the long term, projects are on the table for the Gibralmedina reservoir, between Cádiz and Malaga, and for a second desalination plant in the Mijas-Fuengirola area. In the meantime, the solvency of a reservoir is limited due to its capacity (57 million cubic metres). However good a state it is in, the cushion it offers is only for a few months.

In this context, managing resources and balancing numbers is vital. In the last hydrological year, the Costa obtained 37.4 million cubic metres from the reservoir, which receives contributions from the Verde and the triple transfer Guadaiza-Guadalmina-Guadalmansa. The measure for the last decade is higher: 45 million cubic metres.

The Marbella desalination plant, on the other hand, provided 20.26% of the total water. This is a high percentage due to the saving of water from the reservoir and the fact that each municipality's own resources were used to a great extent.

The Fuengirola wells supplied 9.38% of the total and the Guadalmansa wells 1.63%. This 11% combined is a key volume in the accounts of the supply to the coast.

In 1995, during the great drought, three wells were built and put into service in Fuengirola and two in Guadalmansa, which were connected to the main supply network. In 2005, during the following drought, the wells in Fuengirola were extended from three to five. At the same time, the El Toro pumping stations in Fuengirola were also improved. "These actions were fundamental for the supply of drinking water on the Costa del Sol, because they are essential in summer, the period of maximum demand. Without these wells we would have had many problems supplying the easternmost part of the Costa del Sol," Acosol's technical sources pointed out.

At the start of the year, the La Concepción reservoir stored 38.25 million cubic metres. The drought plan stipulates it must have 37.4 on 1 February in order to emerge from drought alert status.