Europe Edition
According to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Carmen Crespo, "the technical working group of the desalination plant of the Axarquía is meeting today to diligently promote this infrastructure of state competence." Crespo said that these water resources are "fundamental for the area" and that the State and the Junta de Andalucía had agreed to work on the integration and fusion of private technical work with the public desalination plant. She also stressed that the objectives of this cooperation of administrations also include achieving "an affordable cost" for the productive sectors and municipalities of this Malaga area.
In response to a question in the parliamentary committee, Carmen Crespo said that, since the end of 2019, the Andalusian Government had held "numerous meetings with the Secretary of State for the Environment to promote and move forward this desalination infrastructure of state competence." "They've done so convinced of the importance of providing this region of Malaga with all the water resources we can get," she added. "The Andalusian Government has always stated that the desalination plants of La Axarquía and the Levante Almeriense are priorities for Andalusia."
In her speech, the Minister commented that, despite the Axarquía's complicated situation, giant steps have been taken to improve the water context of this Malaga region that already has 21 hm³ of regenerated water and supply. According to Crespo, that amount will increase to 31 hm³ from September. "We'll continue to provide more resources in the future through the hydrological plans that we have managed to approve to achieve the water balance that Malaga and all of Andalusia need." "We are hydrically preparing Andalusia to face the current drought and the effects of climate change."
"The water highway between El Atabal and the Axarquía is a reality, not a project," Minister Crespo stressed, adding that its capacity had been doubled from 200 to 400 liters per second.
Among other issues of relevance for the province of Malaga, the Minister also referred to the tertiary treatments of the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) of Nerja. In this regard, she explained that even though this treatment plant was made by the State, the works for its implementation are included in the Drought Decree of Andalusia. The objective, Crespo said, is that farmers in the area have additional water resources to use in the irrigation of their farms.
Source: juntadeandalucia.es
