Town Halls along the Costa del Sol are contemplating using mobile desalination plants to help counter the drought now that the average amount of water in reservoirs stands at 16%.

Estepona has bitten the bullet and is advancing on acquiring one in the coming months. There are Spanish firms, such as the SETA PHT, that have approached Town Halls but the favourite appears to be a German, international company Boreal Light.

This company claims that not only can one of their units be installed in a month, but they are more efficient as they are powered by solar panels.

Their chief salesman for the province of Málaga, Rene Von Reth, says that their machines can produce up to 2,400 cu/m of desalinated water apt for consumption. Put another way, that’s 2,400 tonnes of water.

Each one of these desalination units costs around 900,000 euros, although the per unit price comes down depending on how many units are purchased. Herr Von Reth calculates that the Costa del Sol would need 800 portable desalination plants, costing a total of 75,000,000 euros, adding, “We can have them all in place and working with their solar-panels within 18 months.”

The company after 20 years of existence has deployed 250 units in a score of countries in Africa, The Americas and Asia.

Editorial comment: one of the drawbacks that desalination plants have is the disposal of the extracted salt, which inevitably ends back in the sea in a reduced area, causing very high salinity.

(News/Noticias: Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia – Source article: E. Cabezas/Sur)