Is it possible to guarantee the water supply on the Costa del Sol? It was the question at the conference 'Water, a guarantee for the future of the Costa del Sol', organised by Acosol and Diario Sur, with the collaboration of DCOOP, which was held this Monday, at the La Cala Resort Hotel and was attended, among others, by the Mayor of Mijas, Josele González (PSOE).

The Mijas Councillor took part in a round table discussion in which the Costa del Sol's reality in terms of water resources was analysed. "Today, we have talked about many  water storage solutions, transport, transfer, aquifers' contributions and even large infrastructure such as desalination and others dedicated to sanitation," said the Mayor. "We have spent many years talking about what we can do, and we have not finished materialising it," he also stressed.

In this regard, the European Next Generation funds were highlighted. Its first call for proposals will be launched this month. It will allow the modernisation of the Costa del Sol's sanitation and water supply infrastructures, many of which are obsolete after five decades of service. In this regard, the CEO of Acosol, Carlos Cañavete, said on Monday, that various actions were already planned, valued at around 7 million euros. "70 percent would be financed through these funds and the remaining 30 percent would be provided by the public water company". Cañavete also pointed out that these investments are aimed at improving the water supply "both upstream and downstream", and that the idea is to "install a series of metres, a remote control system to know immediately how much water is passing through, how much is not passing through, and of what quality, among other objectives''.

The government delegate in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández, was in charge of closing the forum. During his speech, he pointed out that Andalusia has already begun the so-called Hydrological Planning 2022-2027, aimed at improving the state of Andalusian waters and preventing "the overexploitation of aquifers such as that of the Sierra de Mijas, the contamination of bodies of water or the deterioration of our rivers".

In terms of projects for the Costa del Sol, the delegate insisted on the "necessary renovation of the 100-kilometre pipeline that runs from Torremolinos to Manilva" and improving the performance of desalination plants "because they have a high energy cost", the optimisation of resources and "realistic planning of supply and demand".

This hydrological plan, Fernández said, includes 13 measures, eight of which, the Andalusian delegate assured, are linked to climate change. "Some of them are related to flood protection, another to optimise water management, and two to increase the available resources and the quality of water supply," he said.

Anyway, all the speakers, including the Mayor of Mijas, have called for collaboration between administrations and even private companies, so the challenges that have been put on the table now, become a reality shortly. The current economic and employment model of the Costa del Sol is at risk and, therefore, also of Mijas," he concluded.
 

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