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It has been reported for some time that drought-relief work has been going on to bring disused wells back into action close to the Guadalhorce river, not far from Malaga Airport. What hasn’t been clear until now is the surprising volume of water being found underground by engineers. In fact, the term ‘wells’ falls far short of describing them.
What is down there in among the channels in the rock at the foot of the wells that is so exciting the experts is the equivalent of a big reservoir that could provide two thirds of the annual water supply for the city of Malaga. The city already relies heavily on the use of this type of groundwater to top up water from its normal, surface reservoirs. But, pending a proper study of how much, expectations have been far exceeded.
Initial calculations point to a potential supply from these boreholes of 800 litres per second from the lower Guadalhorce river area, alongside the airport, and another 400 from the area upstream around Cártama (Fahala and Aljaima).
This would be 1,200 of the 1,500 litres per second of water that Malaga city pumps into the system. The wells that are located in the municipality of Malaga would exceed the volume of the El Limonero or Casasola surface reservoirs - the two smaller ones closest to the city - with more than 25 million cubic metres of supply a year.
Those wells closest to the airport, through which water is extracted from the layers of rock under the river, were used until the 1990s but were then abandoned due to their low water quality and poor state. Malaga also did not have a desalination plant at that time to remove salt water.
The Aljaima underground water channels (in Cártama) were flooded in 2012 and have been recovering ever since.
SUR has inspected the work in progress on the so-called Perales 3 wells, on the banks of the Guadalhorce, next to the Santa Teresa industrial estate in Malaga city and across the river from the airport runways.
It is a substantial investment to get them up and working again - in total 16 million euros from town hall and regional government funds - and work is expected to be finished by next summer.
Malaga’s municipal water company - Emasa - has experience in the management of the wells that were abandoned in the 1990s and is also getting help from University of Malaga experts.
In recent months, the water company has already been getting 20% of the supply it needs from the more than a dozen wells at Fahala and Aljaima upstream in Cártama. But their size is dwarfed by the large, deep pools that emerge thanks to these enormous cased well heads and their pumping systems and electrical panels being installed.
These lower Guadalhorce wells are the first to be brought back to life. They have already been cleared to 40 metres and will reach 60 metres. Stones and debris are removed in the process, and the well is prepared for use.
The next work will be carried out in the Puente del Rey area, right at the end of the older runway of Malaga Airport.
It is still not known what the quality of all this groundwater is. No regular studies are carried out. These pools of water are susceptible to pollution and salt.
Malaga city’s added advantage is that it has the desalination plant at El Atabal, capable of refining poor quality water. This process will be boosted by an upgrade to the Pilones water treatment plant (next to the TechPark), which will be equipped with specific reverse osmosis systems.
Once the wells of Perales and Puente del Rey have been adapted, there are plans to work on those of San Isidro (under the second runway of the airport), Intelhorce (left bank of the river), Amoniaco (north of the airport) and those of Fincas Marín and El Patillo (in the Bienquerido river area). The city council has located 18 wells throughout this large area, but, initially, this first action focuses on six.
The water will be extracted from the wells by means of 220 kW submersible pumps with a working point of 100 litres each and a head of 100 mWG (the pressure exerted by a 100-metre column of pure water), which will raise the water to existing storage in the Puente del Rey area.
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