Benidorm will promote a Reclaimed Water Master Plan to generalize its use for irrigation and washing throughout the city

 Benidorm City Council is going to promote a Reclaimed Water Master Plan to generalize its use for irrigation and washing throughout the city. To this end, the water management concessionaire company, Hidraqua, has been asked to develop a project that will allow the deployment of the network of pipes necessary to bring reclaimed water from the WWTP's tertiary treatment plant to all neighbourhoods.

This was stated by the Councilor for Water Cycle, José Ramón González de Zárate, during the municipal Drought Monitoring Committee, which met today at Dinapsis headquarters after Júcar Hydrographic Confederation established the scenario last Wednesday of 'emergency' due to drought for the Marina Baixa. In addition to the ex officio members of the Committee, the general secretary of the Hosbec Hotel Association, Mayte García, and representatives of the street cleaning and parks and gardens concessionaires, FCC and Actúa, have also been invited to attend.

González de Zárate explained that with this Master Plan and the subsequent project “they will show us where the pipes have to go”, with the objective “not only to expand the use of this reclaimed water for current public uses but also to make it available of the neighbouring communities to allow their green areas to be irrigated with drinking water.” At this point, the mayor clarified that "with this, we achieve double savings: drinking water and money", since "reclaimed water is cheaper."

As was revealed during the meeting, currently 32% of the volume of regenerated water obtained in the tertiary treatment plant is being used; a percentage allocated to irrigators, the irrigation of parks and gardens and the washing of the streets of Benidorm. Therefore, the councillor has expressed, “There is almost 70% of that water that we are not yet using due to the lack of a wide and complete distribution network, so the potential for reuse is very high.”
For this reason, he stressed, “it is important to do it and do it immediately” to “continue gaining efficiency in water management”, in which “we are exemplary”. In this regard, during the Committee it was reported that there is already a document along the lines of the Master Plan requested today by the City Council.

In addition to the municipal distribution network that the Master Plan must contain, González de Zárate has detailed that “being able to extract much more reused water” from the WWTP “it is essential to change the membranes of the tertiary treatment plant”, which have lost performance with Overtime. A need that today, in Dinapsis, has been conveyed to the General Director of Water of the Generalitat Valenciana, Sabina-Goretti Galindo, with the City Council making itself “at her disposal to make it a reality as soon as possible.”

Mensaje de tranquilidad sobre la disponibilidad de recursos hídricos

Durante el Comité de Seguimiento de Sequía, el concejal de Ciclo del Agua y los técnicos municipales y de la empresa concesionaria han reiterado un mensaje de “tranquilidad a la ciudadanía” porque “el abastecimiento está totalmente garantizado en Benidorm y en el resto de municipios que forma parte del Consorcio de Aguas de la Marina Baixa”. Así, ha recordado que “tenemos derecho a aportes externos de agua tanto de la desaladora de Mutxamel como del Júcar”.

Asimismo, y tras analizar la situación actual, el Comité ha descartado adoptar medidas adicionales o excepcionales por la sequía. González de Zárate ha indicado que el Plan de Emergencia municipal ante situaciones de sequía establece diferentes medidas, entre ellas, por ejemplo, bajar la presión en horario nocturno. 
Sobre esto, “los técnicos han explicado que no es necesario por una sencilla razón: la eficiencia de nuestra red de agua potable es del 96%” y reducir la presión es efectivo cuando hay pérdidas”. “Si tú no tienes pérdidas en la red como es el caso de Benidorm –ha clarificado- no es necesario bajar la presión, porque no se obtiene ningún rendimiento”

Totalmente descartadas quedan también medidas más drásticas como cortes de suministro. “Ni mucho menos nos hemos planteado cortes porque tenemos el agua garantizada”, ha remarcado el edil. 

Sí se va a mantener y amplificar la campaña de concienciación sobre ahorro de agua puesta en marcha por el Ayuntamiento e Hidraqua. Así, además de la información que está llegando a los usuarios junto con la factura del agua, “vamos a ampliar la difusión de la campaña insertándola en las pantallas digitales que tenemos repartidas por todo Benidorm y también en los mupis informativos de la concesionaria de mobiliario urbano”.