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spain today portugal soon?
spain today portugal soon?
interesting piece from SUR paper in spain about the ever increasing demand for water, despite a reasonable amount of rain, demand it seems cannot keep up with supply
rGeneral News
The rise in water consumption is out of all proportion in the province of Malaga
Pilar Q. Quirós
The demand grew by 25 per cent between 2000 and 2005
A record 148 cubic hectometres was taken from the reservoirs last year
The increase in the number of people living all year round or for long periods each year in the province of Malaga is a fact. This translates as more of the land being occupied - growth in the number of housing developments and homes - and a rise in the consumption of electricity, gas and, naturally, water. The statistics are there for all to see: in just five years the demand for water from the province’s reservoirs grew by as much as 25 per cent. In the year 2000 the Mediterranean-Andalusian (formerly the Southern) Water Board supplied a total of 116.5 cubic hectometres (a cubic hectometre is a million cubic metres) to the Costa del Sol and the city of Malaga from La Viñuela, Guadalhorce and La Concepción reservoirs, while last year the figure had risen to 148 cubic hectometres.
At first glance an increase of 31.5 cubic hectometres may seem low but the experts consider it to be out of all proportion, since, instead of rising, consumption, should be dropping. This is what scientists working on “Strategies for Climatic Change” recommend for the provinces in the south of Spain. Moreover, last year a record peak in consumption was reached despite the fact that the regional Department of the Environment took the first steps to cope with the drought as far back as last July.
The director general of the Mediterranean-Andalusian Water Board himself, Antonio Rodríguez Leal, makes it quite plain that the demand for water in recent years “is huge and quite unsustainable”. Moreover, in addition to the water used from the reservoirs, there is also the supply extracted from wells; on the Costa del Sol alone last year 30 cubic hectometres were used from this source. Then there is the volume provided by Marbella desalination plant: this can provide 20 cubic hectometres a year.
In addition there is the water provided by wells in the Guadalhorce, Antequera and Axarquía areas. The volumes are just beginning to be known under the regional drought decree by which owners are obliged to report the amount supplied.
But it is not hard to explain why water consumption has risen substantially. The population of the province of Malaga has grown by about 175,000 people in the last five years, according to the National Institute of Statistics. And that is not all; a large number of people living in the province are not registered. Since so many of them do not put their names down at their local town hall it is almost impossible to know how many foreigners there are living here, whether all year round or for long periods. It is even harder to ascertain the figure in the case of foreigners from other countries in the EU, as there is no frontier control. Another of the great consumers of water is farming. But the number of hectares of irrigated land has not risen. So it is clear that the exorbitant rise in water consumption is due to the proliferation of high class housing developments, with green areas, swimming-pools and golf courses.
If to all this is added the fact that in the last ten years little new water infrastructure has been created (the exceptions are the Casasola water reservoir, which in any case, is not yet in use, and the Marbella desalination plant), and very little recycled waste water is used for watering, it is obvious why the current drought is putting the province in a tight spot.
Antonio Rodríguez Leal insists that the rise in consumption has gone hand in hand with the growth in population. That is why, he says, the only way to find out how many people are living in the province would be to calculate the number of tons of refuse treated in a year and divide it by 1.8 kilos - the average amount of rubbish created per person per day. So the key finally to ascertaining the number of people who use water in the province of Malaga may lie in the rubbish.
Nevertheless, another factor that reflects the situation very well is the pace at which new housing has gone up. The number of resident foreigners who live in their own homes in the province rose to 1,137,000 in 2004, according to the Andalusian Federation of Developers and Residential Tourism.
In a situation like this the only way out is the creation of desalination plants, the same as in California, and reaching “zero waste”, in other words, the re-use of all waste water, from whatever source, for irrigating the land.
Water consumption
Marbella:
Aquagest (supplying the town and most residents)
2000: 9.7 cubic hectometres (47,000 accounts)
2005: 11.8 cubic hectometres (59,000 accounts). Consumption rose by 18 per cent.
Acosol (supplying developments and golf courses)
2000: 8.1 cubic hectometres
2005: 25.7 hm3 (consumption tripled in five years.)
Malaga:
Emasa (supplying residents)
2000: 27.8 hm3 (610,000 estimated inhabitants)
2005: 30.65 hm3 (640,000 estimated inhabitants). Consumption rose by ten per cent.
Emasa (industrial use)
2000: 8.3 hm3
2005: 9.4 hm3 (ten per cent growth)
Vélez-Málaga
Aqualia (for residents)
2000: 5.1 cubic hectometres (21,000 accounts)
2005: 6.2 hm3 (28,800 accounts) A rise of18 per cent. In this case the municipal water company says that although the number of accounts has grown vastly, in most cases the new ones are for second homes - and the owners are, therefore, absent for long periods of the year.
Benalmádena
Aqualia (residents)
2000: 7.6 hm3 (77,000 inhabitants)
2005: 10.5 hm3 (120,000 inhabitants). Consumption rose by 28 per cent.
Mediterranean Andalusian Water Board
Consumption on the Costa and in Malaga:
2000: 121.2 hm3
2005: 148 hm3 (plus 30 hm3 from wells on the coast, and another 20 hm3 from Marbella desalination plant) What swells
the seaThe re-use of all waste water is one of the options that has, as yet, been little explored in the province of Malaga. However this situation will shortly be rectified as the treatment works at Peñón del Cuervo and Guadalhorce will soon include plants to treat waste water that currently flows into the sea at a rate of 2,500 litres a second. To be more precise, the former plant “wastes” 2,000 litres a second and the latter 500 litres.
This waste water could be used for watering gardens if just one more step were added to the purification process. It could also be used for agriculture. In fact this was going to be done in the álora area some years ago. One of the reasons why it was not carried out in the end was because water treated in this way costs six times more than the water supplied to farmers from the Guadalhorce reservoirs area.
It must not be forgotten that farming is the activity that accounts for the greatest consumption of water. Moreover, because of the poor condition of the pipelines for watering in the Guadalhorce area more than 50 per cent of the supply is lost in leakages. This recycled sewage could also be used for watering golf courses.
These statistics always come to light when drought is severe, but they are shoved to one side once the reservoirs are full again. It is as if everybody, the authorities included, forgot that the province of Malaga periodically suffers from drought.
rGeneral News
The rise in water consumption is out of all proportion in the province of Malaga
Pilar Q. Quirós
The demand grew by 25 per cent between 2000 and 2005
A record 148 cubic hectometres was taken from the reservoirs last year
The increase in the number of people living all year round or for long periods each year in the province of Malaga is a fact. This translates as more of the land being occupied - growth in the number of housing developments and homes - and a rise in the consumption of electricity, gas and, naturally, water. The statistics are there for all to see: in just five years the demand for water from the province’s reservoirs grew by as much as 25 per cent. In the year 2000 the Mediterranean-Andalusian (formerly the Southern) Water Board supplied a total of 116.5 cubic hectometres (a cubic hectometre is a million cubic metres) to the Costa del Sol and the city of Malaga from La Viñuela, Guadalhorce and La Concepción reservoirs, while last year the figure had risen to 148 cubic hectometres.
At first glance an increase of 31.5 cubic hectometres may seem low but the experts consider it to be out of all proportion, since, instead of rising, consumption, should be dropping. This is what scientists working on “Strategies for Climatic Change” recommend for the provinces in the south of Spain. Moreover, last year a record peak in consumption was reached despite the fact that the regional Department of the Environment took the first steps to cope with the drought as far back as last July.
The director general of the Mediterranean-Andalusian Water Board himself, Antonio Rodríguez Leal, makes it quite plain that the demand for water in recent years “is huge and quite unsustainable”. Moreover, in addition to the water used from the reservoirs, there is also the supply extracted from wells; on the Costa del Sol alone last year 30 cubic hectometres were used from this source. Then there is the volume provided by Marbella desalination plant: this can provide 20 cubic hectometres a year.
In addition there is the water provided by wells in the Guadalhorce, Antequera and Axarquía areas. The volumes are just beginning to be known under the regional drought decree by which owners are obliged to report the amount supplied.
But it is not hard to explain why water consumption has risen substantially. The population of the province of Malaga has grown by about 175,000 people in the last five years, according to the National Institute of Statistics. And that is not all; a large number of people living in the province are not registered. Since so many of them do not put their names down at their local town hall it is almost impossible to know how many foreigners there are living here, whether all year round or for long periods. It is even harder to ascertain the figure in the case of foreigners from other countries in the EU, as there is no frontier control. Another of the great consumers of water is farming. But the number of hectares of irrigated land has not risen. So it is clear that the exorbitant rise in water consumption is due to the proliferation of high class housing developments, with green areas, swimming-pools and golf courses.
If to all this is added the fact that in the last ten years little new water infrastructure has been created (the exceptions are the Casasola water reservoir, which in any case, is not yet in use, and the Marbella desalination plant), and very little recycled waste water is used for watering, it is obvious why the current drought is putting the province in a tight spot.
Antonio Rodríguez Leal insists that the rise in consumption has gone hand in hand with the growth in population. That is why, he says, the only way to find out how many people are living in the province would be to calculate the number of tons of refuse treated in a year and divide it by 1.8 kilos - the average amount of rubbish created per person per day. So the key finally to ascertaining the number of people who use water in the province of Malaga may lie in the rubbish.
Nevertheless, another factor that reflects the situation very well is the pace at which new housing has gone up. The number of resident foreigners who live in their own homes in the province rose to 1,137,000 in 2004, according to the Andalusian Federation of Developers and Residential Tourism.
In a situation like this the only way out is the creation of desalination plants, the same as in California, and reaching “zero waste”, in other words, the re-use of all waste water, from whatever source, for irrigating the land.
Water consumption
Marbella:
Aquagest (supplying the town and most residents)
2000: 9.7 cubic hectometres (47,000 accounts)
2005: 11.8 cubic hectometres (59,000 accounts). Consumption rose by 18 per cent.
Acosol (supplying developments and golf courses)
2000: 8.1 cubic hectometres
2005: 25.7 hm3 (consumption tripled in five years.)
Malaga:
Emasa (supplying residents)
2000: 27.8 hm3 (610,000 estimated inhabitants)
2005: 30.65 hm3 (640,000 estimated inhabitants). Consumption rose by ten per cent.
Emasa (industrial use)
2000: 8.3 hm3
2005: 9.4 hm3 (ten per cent growth)
Vélez-Málaga
Aqualia (for residents)
2000: 5.1 cubic hectometres (21,000 accounts)
2005: 6.2 hm3 (28,800 accounts) A rise of18 per cent. In this case the municipal water company says that although the number of accounts has grown vastly, in most cases the new ones are for second homes - and the owners are, therefore, absent for long periods of the year.
Benalmádena
Aqualia (residents)
2000: 7.6 hm3 (77,000 inhabitants)
2005: 10.5 hm3 (120,000 inhabitants). Consumption rose by 28 per cent.
Mediterranean Andalusian Water Board
Consumption on the Costa and in Malaga:
2000: 121.2 hm3
2005: 148 hm3 (plus 30 hm3 from wells on the coast, and another 20 hm3 from Marbella desalination plant) What swells
the seaThe re-use of all waste water is one of the options that has, as yet, been little explored in the province of Malaga. However this situation will shortly be rectified as the treatment works at Peñón del Cuervo and Guadalhorce will soon include plants to treat waste water that currently flows into the sea at a rate of 2,500 litres a second. To be more precise, the former plant “wastes” 2,000 litres a second and the latter 500 litres.
This waste water could be used for watering gardens if just one more step were added to the purification process. It could also be used for agriculture. In fact this was going to be done in the álora area some years ago. One of the reasons why it was not carried out in the end was because water treated in this way costs six times more than the water supplied to farmers from the Guadalhorce reservoirs area.
It must not be forgotten that farming is the activity that accounts for the greatest consumption of water. Moreover, because of the poor condition of the pipelines for watering in the Guadalhorce area more than 50 per cent of the supply is lost in leakages. This recycled sewage could also be used for watering golf courses.
These statistics always come to light when drought is severe, but they are shoved to one side once the reservoirs are full again. It is as if everybody, the authorities included, forgot that the province of Malaga periodically suffers from drought.