The mayor defends in Europe its sustainable model of water resources generation through a desalination plant with photovoltaic energy

José María García Urbano participates in Oslo, as representative of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, in the Summit of Leaders of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions. The Estepona desalination plant project, which will generate 15 million liters per day, is in the phase of obtaining land for its construction.

The mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano, has defended at a meeting of European leaders his sustainable model for the fight against drought through the generation of water resources from seawater desalination. These facilities will also have a low energy cost as they operate with photovoltaic panels. This was stated in the framework of the Leaders’ Summit and meeting of the Political Committee of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), where the councillor is participating as a representative of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and as vice-president of the CEMR itself.

The first day of this meeting, which takes place in Oslo, focused on the sustainable management of resources, exploring how local and regional governments can address the scarcity of resources and, at the same time, promote environmental and social sustainability in the long term.

In his speech, García Urbano defended the model that Estepona has opted for the generation of water resources to cope, self-sufficiently, the stages of drought. Thus, he explained that Estepona’s commitment is to desalination, so that work continues on the construction of a modular desalination plant, “which can be modified according to the needs”. This initiative is currently awaiting authorizations to obtain the land and begin assembly.

The project, with an investment of close to 20 million euros, will be capable of generating 15 million liters per day. “We are talking about an amount corresponding to the consumption of a population like ours”. García Urbano has detailed the sustainable model of generation of water resources through the use of a technology “that has allowed to overcome the traditional problems that generated the brine, which was previously deposited along the coast, generating serious problems to the fauna and flora, but now there is an industrial use and with propulsion tubes, at 2-3 kilometers, the salt returns to the sea”.

Regarding the energy cost that until now has meant the desalination of sea water, the mayor of Estepona has explained that, in an area like the Costa del Sol, “where we have approximately 330 days of sunshine a year, with the new photovoltaic plants we have enough capacity to generate enough electricity. Before, the energy cost was very high, which increased the final price of water; however, with these photovoltaic plants, in areas such as ours, we have overcome one of the major problems of desalination”.