Tuesday, 30 September 2025, 15:01
A contract to draft the project for the Costa del Sol’s second desalination plant is being put out to tender this week. As SUR has learned, Acosol, the public water company of the Mancomunidad association of town halls on the western Costa del Sol, is looking for companies interested in drafting the project with two key points: an exhaustive analysis of possible locations and another on the operational capacity of the future plant.
Technical sources have told SUR that the starting point is to build a desalination plant between Mijas and Fuengirola, although a location further east has not been ruled out. The starting capacity will be 10 million cubic metres per year, expandable to 20.
Annual requirements
The Costa del Sol needs 90 million cubic metres in round terms each year to guarantee its water supply. Currently the bulk of the supply comes from the La Concepción reservoir, although dependence and pressure on these resources has been reduced. For example, in 2023 more than 47 million cubic metres of water was used from the reservoir, compared to 36 last year.
The next source is the Marbella desalination plant, which last year provided 10 million cubic metres but can reach 20. Wells in Fuengirola and Guadalmansa (the latter are now unused) usually supply another 10-11 million cubic metres per year. The rest of the supply comes from the municipalities’ own resources.
Regenerated
The recycled water is mainly used to irrigate golf courses. The Mancomunidad and the local councils are interested in obtaining health permits to extend its use to public and private gardens and irrigation and the technical and legal process is in full swing. The long-term objective is that this type of resource will mean a saving of 30 per cent of water from reservoirs, desalinated water and wells.
Gibralmedina reservoir
In the long term, the Costa del Sol aspires to receive 15 million cubic metres of drinking water from the Campo de Gibraltar. But for that, the Gibralmedina dam on the Guadiaro, between Cadiz and Malaga, needs to be built. The reservoir and pipelines cost more than 800 million euros and the Junta de Andalucía has just sent the draft project to the Ministry of Ecological Transition for its supervision.