The use of alternative sources of water supply is essential to preserve the sustainability of the territories

Climate change is the biggest challenge facing humanity. World Environment Day, promoted by the United Nations every June 5, focuses its message this year on restoring lands, stopping desertification and strengthening resilience to drought.

Since 2000, drought episodes have increased by 29% globally. Specifically, Spain is one of the countries in the European Union most affected by drought, accumulating years of rainfall deficit, especially in the southeast of the peninsula, and it is expected that there will be a decrease in resources by up to 25%.

In Andalusia the situation is especially difficult, since the lack of water resources to satisfy the demand for water permanently over time is continuous. The cyclical periods of drought highlight this difficult situation with greater intensity, but the territory's water scarcity is structural. Therefore, maintaining over time the planned investments for the renovation and construction of the infrastructure necessary to confront the drought, as well as the application of the latest technology and innovation to promote the use of alternative sources of supply are key to be able to alleviate this situation in a stable way.

Hidralia, a leading environmental company in management of the integral water cycle, has reinforced its strategy of innovative solutions for the preservation and sustainable management of water. The objective is to guarantee the availability of water, ensuring the water resilience of populations through adaptation to climate change, the protection of ecosystems and the green transformation of existing infrastructures.

These solutions are mainly based on circular models and are inspired by nature itself, with the aim of caring for and restoring the ecosystems in the group's facilities, as well as the spaces in which they are located.

Reuse to be more resilient

The circular economy is at the center of the activities of Hidralia and the group to which it belongs, Agbar-Veolia. Given the current context of water scarcity, Hidralia is committed to the regeneration and subsequent reuse of water, giving it multiple new uses. Irrigation, both of urban green areas and crops, the cleaning of cities or the return of regenerated water in optimal conditions to rivers and aquifers to restart the collection cycle are already some functional examples of this solution. The equation could not be clearer: the greater the amount of regenerated water in circulation, the less dependence on the weather and the less pressure in general on available water resources.

In Andalusia in recent years the percentage of use of regenerated water has quadrupled, going from 4 to 17.5%, which places the community nine points above the national average, but it is not enough, we must continue making progress in this path.
 We have a notable example in this sense in Malaga, led by Cetaqua Andalucía (Andalusian Water Research Center). The European Life Matrix project will inject 50,000 m3 of regenerated water to recharge aquifers, increasing by 15% the underground water resources available in that aquifer sector of the Costa del Sol. The project aims to demonstrate the technical, environmental and sanitation of a Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) system using regenerated water, treated wastewater subjected to complementary treatment processes for reuse. The water will be obtained from the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) of La Víbora (Marbella), managed by Acosol, where the works of the artificial wetland have just been awarded, whose vegetation will be able to absorb polluting elements from the water. The water will be transferred to a recharge pond and by gravity will infiltrate through a permeable and reactive organic layer until it reaches the level of the aquifer.

The Life Matrix project, co-financed by Life, is coordinated by Cetaqua Andalucía, with the participation of Cetaqua Barcelona, ​​the Hydrogeology Center of the University of Malaga (CEHIUMA) and Acosol. In addition, the initiative also has the support of local entities such as the Junta de Andalucía, the Marbella City Council, the Commonwealth of Municipalities of the Western Costa del Sol and Hidralia.

Another example worth highlighting is the Montilla treatment plant. In this facility, thanks to the Reutivar project, where Feragua, Aguas de Montilla, the University of Córdoba and the Tintín Irrigation Community participate, a predictive model is being created in which irrigators can take advantage of the specific nutrients that are produced in the wastewater regeneration process. Finally, in the Roquetas de Mar treatment plant, managed by Hidralia, thanks to the investment of the Government of Andalusia, the tertiary process has been implemented, which will allow the reuse of the approximately 8.5 cubic hectometers per year of residual water that He is currently treating the plant to use it for irrigation.

Naturalization

In addition to regenerating water to reuse it, another fundamental axis of the group consists of naturalizing the facilities and minimizing the ecological and energy footprint to transform them into green and decarbonized infrastructures. 

We have the greatest example in the BioSur ecofactory in Granada, managed by Emasagra. An infrastructure widely recognized nationally and internationally, where not only has the use of treated water and practically all its waste been achieved, but it also generates more energy than it needs to be self-sufficient in all its processes. In this infrastructure, there has been a paradigm shift where we have gone from a linear vision, where water is purified and returned to the environment, to a complete circular concept, where through energy generation, water reuse and recovery of the waste resulting from purification, a positive impact is generated on the environment, biodiversity and society. A new way of conceiving these facilities, where self-consumption, savings and generation of clean energy are intrinsically linked.