The City Council assumes an urgent investment in the sewage water network and calls on EPSAR again to tender the pending works

Benidorm City Council has made an urgent new investment in the residual water pumping network, in this case to guarantee the correct operation of the system that drives these waters to the treatment plant. Coinciding with World Water Day, the mayor of the area, José Ramón González de Zárate, explained that “action is being taken at pumping station number 1, the one located at the intersection of Mediterráneo and Ametlla del Mar avenues, where you are replacing the main drive valve ”.

This valve broke at the end of the year and it was necessary to operate with a 'by-pass' until the arrival of the new one, which has special measures to adapt to the subsoil of Avenida del Mediterráneo.

De Zárate has stressed that this action, valued at about 80,000 euros, is "essential", since "without that valve, practically all of Benidorm's wastewater could end up in the sea, causing significant environmental damage."

As reported by the mayor, the replacement of this valve –in use for almost four decades- “was included in the project to adapt the drives and pumping stations in Benidorm and l'Alfàs del Pi, a work that should have been put out to tender and already executed by the Public Entity for Wastewater Sanitation (EPSAR) of the Generalitat Valenciana, based on the agreement signed in 2017 with the City Council ”.

However, "this action, like the rest of those committed to improving the system and the Benidorm network, remain pending despite the great amount that the citizens of Benidorm contribute financially to EPSAR through the sanitation fee" . A contribution that reaches "approximately 1.2 million euros and that is not being reinvested in the city." In fact, the City Council unsuccessfully requested EPSAR to assume the replacement of the damaged valve.

For all this, De Zárate has once again demanded that EPSAR "comply with its commitment and tender and execute all pending investments", since "an avant-garde and tourist city like Benidorm cannot run the risk of having problems with the network of residuals and that part of these waters reach its beaches ”.

In this regard, he has pointed out that "the good work of the concessionaire company and the little tourist activity has prevented us from having serious problems" in recent months.

Request for modification of the Law

Last November, and due to the lack of investment by EPSAR, the plenary session unanimously approved requesting the modification of the current legislation regarding the financing of purification facilities and in the management of the Sanitation Canon so that the local entities can manage these resources, making the necessary investments in hydraulic infrastructures, which are critical and vital.

As it was already indicated in that plenary session, in the last 9 years, Benidorm City Council, through its citizens, has paid EPSAR more than 50 million euros, while the operating and maintenance costs of Benidorm Waste Water (WWTP) and its network has totaled 38 million euros, which leaves a favorable balance of 12 million euros for the autonomous body. Meanwhile, and despite the agreement signed between EPSAR and the municipalities of Benidorm, l’Alfàs del Pi and La Nucia, the management entity has only invested 120,000 euros of the 3.5 million committed. In return, since 2012 Benidorm City Council has invested more than 5 million euros in these infrastructures.