Dilip Kuner
A LUXURY water park billed as a ‘paradise for tourists’ has turned into a nightmare for locals in Coin, Malaga – and now an explosive new technical report has confired their worst fears.
The report, published by environmental engineers from the Junta de Andalucia and seen by the Olive Press, has issued a resounding thumbs-down to the proposed ‘Transcendence’ mega resort – a €267million leisure complex planned for the Barranco Blanco area, a valley famed for its lush springs and natural beauty.
According to the 12-page report, the project would irreversibly damage groundwater systems, threatening the already fragile Sierra Blanca aquifer, the main source of drinking and irrigation water for Coin and surrounding areas. It warns of a ‘critical and unjustified risk’ to ecological stability and calls the urbanisation plans ‘incompatible with sustainable hydrological planning’.
Among the report’s bombshell findings:
- Excessive water consumption in a drought-prone area
- Risk of aquifer contamination from urban runoff and construction
- Permanent alteration of the natural hydrological flow
- Violation of protective zoning regulations around sensitive habitats
Engineers Miguel Angel Martín Casillas, Juan Francisco Muñoz Muñoz, and Javier Bello García concluded the report with a firm desfavorable (unfavorable) verdict, slamming the plan as not viable under current environmental legislation.
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The report aligns with the public’s outrage. The grassroots organisation Mesa del Agua has now collected over 9,000 signatures against the scheme. The group says the development is ‘water robbery dressed as entertainment’, with residents fearing long-term shortages, biodiversity collapse, and a tourist trap that drains more than it gives.
Local campaigners have demanded the Junta impose a moratorium on similar ‘eco-insensitive monstrosities’ and accused developers of putting profits before the planet.
Backers of the project still claim it will create 3,300 jobs and revamp the local economy, pitching Transcendence as ‘an eco-aware destination’.
But with technical and community rejection mounting, the developer’s dreams may be drying up fast.
“Building a water park over an aquifer during a climate crisis is like barbecuing on a petrol station roof,” said one local resident. “It’s madness.”
With the Junta’s own experts now rejecting the plan, pressure is growing on the local council to deny planning permission. Politicians from across the spectrum – including left-wing coalition Por Andalucía – are calling for an immediate halt to the project and an investigation into how far approvals were fast-tracked without proper environmental scrutiny.
As the summer drought looms and protests swell, the Transcendence project looks less like a splashy attraction and more like a ticking environmental time bomb.
