It will help protect the Mar Menor from torrential rains by quadrupling the storage capacity of wastewater for subsequent treatment and regeneration.
The Community of Murcia will invest 2,265,283 euros to expand the storm tank at the San Javier Wastewater Treatment Plant, increasing the current 10,000 cubic metres to 44,000, which will quadruple the storage capacity of wastewater for subsequent treatment.
The Regional Minister for Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and the Environment, Antonio Luengo, assured that “this investment will contribute to protecting the Mar Menor and will prevent the first waters, which are the ones that carry the most dirt, from reaching the ecosystem during torrential rains”.
Luengo stressed that this initiative will make it possible to multiply by up to four times the volume of water that is collected through the sewage systems to be subsequently regenerated and made available to farmers to be used to irrigate crops.
The works consist basically of the enlargement of the current storage reservoir to 22,000 cubic metres by means of a 2-metre-high reinforced concrete perimeter retaining wall and the construction of a new reservoir of a similar type next to the existing one with an additional 22,000 cubic metres of capacity.
The project includes a new pumping system to fill the ponds, consisting of a double reinforced concrete chamber with three 75 kW nominal power submersible centrifugal pumps capable of raising a flow of 1,933 m3 /h at a height of 10.70 m each and equipped with a 6 mm automatic cleaning spillway screen, as well as the necessary electrical and control installations.
The contracting of the works is scheduled to begin in the next few weeks with a completion period of six months.