Walter Finch
A CRUCIAL new pipeline connecting Campo de Gibraltar’s water supply to the Costa del Sol has been opened, offering vital respite to the usually drought-starved region.
Junta President Juanma Moreno inaugurated the 17-kilometre pipeline yesterday, which links the San Enrique de Guadiaro reservoir in San Roque with the western distribution branch of Acosol, the public water company serving the western Costa del Sol.
The €19.5 million infrastructure project, funded through water bill surcharges, will provide an emergency water supply to Malaga municipalities during periods of extreme drought.
“This is strategic infrastructure not only for the population but also for agriculture, livestock, and industry in the region,” Moreno said during the inauguration ceremony in Castellar de la Frontera.
It comes after reservoirs in Malaga were forced to release water at the weekend just months after the region faced critical drought levels.
The Conde de Guadalhorce and La Concepcion reservoirs both had to open emergency valves as they became around 90% full and lacked the infrastructure to transfer the water to the Axarquía to the east.
The new pipeline solves a problem dating back to the 1990s, when the original system proved inefficient as it mixed water for different uses.
The upgrade optimises the use of surface water from the Guadiaro River and incorporates water from the Charco Redondo and Guadarranque reservoirs.
Water Minister Ramon Fernández-Pacheco hailed the new infrastructure, which will prove vital in the future despite the current downpours.
“This week in 2024, we had 1,990 million litres less water in our reservoirs. Now we’re at 44.47% capacity compared to 27.84% last year—we’ve gained 20 percentage points,” he explained.
“Andalucía has already experienced what happens when we relax because it starts raining—projects were abandoned. That won’t happen again. We’ll work as if not a single drop of rain has fallen.”
The pipeline is the first phase of an ambitious Junta project to eventually connect all Mediterranean Basins of Andalucía, extending next to Axarquía and ultimately to Almería.
Moreno also announced that environmental processing will begin for the Gibralmedina dam project, considered essential for guaranteeing water supply to Campo de Gibraltar and much of the western Costa del Sol in coming decades.
While the dam is declared a project of general interest by the Spanish government, the Junta has agreed to draft and fund the project at a cost of €2.2 million.
Currently, Campo de Gibraltar remains under severe water scarcity alert, with consumption limited to 200 litres per person per day.
The regional government reports that Guadalquivir reservoirs are currently collecting five million litres per hour from recent rainfall, but still need an additional 500 to reach comfortable levels.
