The Marina Baixa Water Consortium is once again calling for improvements in reservoir storage and the construction of new ponds

The General Board of the Marina Baixa Water Consortium held an extraordinary and urgent session this morning in Benidorm, in which, among other matters, information was provided on the situation of water supply in the region and the strategic document was approved, which analyses and determines the solutions to guarantee water supply in the towns of the region for the decade 2025-2035. A session in which the status of the process for the future desalination plant of the Marina Baixa, which will be located in Benidorm, was also detailed.

Thus, the conclusions of the strategic document indicate the need for the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ) to allow the volume of water storage in the region to be increased “by modifying the current reservoirs, as well as the construction of ponds that allow more water to be stored in new locations”, as explained by Mayor Toni Pérez, president of the Consortium. In this regard, he recalled that in 2022, up to 91 cubic hectometres were lost at sea due to the lack of these infrastructures and that in 2000, storage and regulation capacities were also lost "due to the incorporation of shelters in the Guadalest and Amadorio reservoirs". The Consortium's technicians have stressed in their reports that before that date, both reservoirs were filled to a level above the current maximum levels, "which justifies that larger volumes than the current ones can be stored".

For this reason, it is considered that updating and revising the existing reserves in the two reservoirs “would be the most economical alternative” by incorporating the new current weather forecasting systems, which were not available in 2000. Likewise, it is advocated to carry out a heightening of the dams of the Guadalest and Amadorio reservoirs so that they have greater capacity, which would also allow the revision of the relief flows of these dams.

The Water Consortium has also made it clear that the guarantee of supply and irrigation resources must also be based on the continuity of the investment in the infrastructures such as pipelines and wells of the three wastewater treatment plants “to optimise resources and generate savings”.

The approved strategic document also analyses future demand in the Marina Baixa. In this way, in the short term, this demand has been estimated at 6 cubic hectometres (until 2030), while in the medium term (until 2035) the supply need is estimated at 6.89 cubic hectometres. This would therefore be around 12 Hm3 that should be met through the 6 Hm3 already ordered from the Mutxamel desalination plant and another six from the future Benidorm facility.

In this sense, in today's session, it was confirmed that the Consortium and the City Council continue to take steps forward to have the infrastructure in place by 2028. "There is already a roadmap that provides for the signing of an agreement between the City Council and the Consortium to draft the project and have it ready for next spring," said Mayor Toni Pérez, who indicated that from that moment on "we will propose financial contributions to the higher administrations to be able to have the facility in place by 2028".

On the other hand, the General Board of the Consortium has been informed of the report on the supply situation, which indicates that the rains in September “have been very local and have served to reduce the demand for irrigation”. Toni Pérez clarified, however, that “despite the drought situation, the supply for the year is guaranteed”. Jaime Berenguer, technical director of the Consortium, has indicated for his part that “we expect a rainy autumn and if not, we will have to request additional contributions”. He has also regretted that the recent rains have not served to take advantage of the waters of the Algar River “because they have caused a drag of the ashes from the last fire in Tárbena”.

Finally, the Consortium has unanimously approved the adhesion to the framework agreement for the supply of electrical energy from the Provincial Council's Contracting Centre, specifically Option 1, supplies with 100% renewable energy origin and tariffs with fixed prices.