Costa del Sol residents reject plans for private desalination plant

People in Torre del Mar have presented objections to the Junta de Andalucía highlighting the environmental and social impact of the facility and have called on the central government to speed up the construction of the planned publicly funded plant

Eugenio Cabezas

Vélez-Málaga

Wednesday, 16 April 2025, 19:43

More than 300 residents living in the Ensanche Oeste area of Torre del Mar on the eastern Costa del Sol have filed objections to plans for a desalination plant in the area "due to the high social and environmental impact".

Although the Minister for Agriculture, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, said during a visit to Vélez-Málaga in February that "the only project on the table" for the Axarquía was the public desalination plant, the private project is still going through a bureaucratic process.

Of the three bids initially presented, the original proposal, from Cordoba-based Magtel S.L., through its subsidiary company Mediterráneo Desalación S.L., which began the process at the end of 2020 before the regional administration, is the one that looks most likely to go ahead.

Environmental and social impact

However, local residents, hoteliers, property developers and representatives from schools and nurseries in the area have presented a number of objections against the proposed private desalination plant. They argue that the plant would "have a serious social and environmental impact". The association now has more than 300 members, who support the objections presented to the Junta de Andalucía.

The project contemplates installing a pumping station on a plot adjacent to the pedestrian walkway and a children's playground, a short distance from a residential area and the Joaquín Lobato de Torre del Mar secondary school. This location has generated strong concern among the local population. "Pumping stations generate noise, vibrations and thermal emissions, as well as a significant visual impact, especially if they are located in residential areas or public spaces," the residents said in a statement.

In addition to the pumping station, the project would include a pipe that would run along the area's beach, which the residents argue would be "a particularly vulnerable area due to the erosion it suffers every year." The statement goes on to say that the pipe would imply "serious environmental and safety risks, including the possible breakage or displacement of the outfall, with the consequent damage to sea life and the wetland of the River Vélez delta".

Public project

These concerns are compounded by the fact that "the project for a public desalination plant is already under way, which will have an initial capacity of 25 million cubic metres per year, half of which will be used for agricultural irrigation". It also envisages the possibility of extending it to 50 million cubic metres, "which means that the construction of a second desalination plant is not justified," according to the residents.

They argue that efforts should be directed towards speeding up the construction of the public desalination plant, which is why they are asking the Junta de Andalucía to reject the private project.

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