The Regional Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Carmen Crespo, has presented the first grants of aid to 61 Andalusian municipalities in the province of Almeria for the modernisation of their water supply networks to eliminate water leaks. In the province of Almeria, a total of 14 municipalities have benefited with a total of 3.4 million euros, 27% of the total for the whole of the autonomous community, which amounts to 12.6 million euros. Specifically, the beneficiary towns in Almeria are Cantoria, Ohanes, Sorbas, Albox, Tíjola, María, Partaloa, Laujar de Andarax, Instinción, Olula del Río, Arboleas, as well as Zurgena, Paterna del Río and Pulpí.
Carmen Crespo stressed “the importance of helping municipalities of less than 20,000 inhabitants with scarce economic resources, as the Regional Ministry has done without being competent in this area, to take on this type of action to save water and correct the water deficit”. In this respect, he pointed out that “in Andalusia 340 cubic hectometres are lost through water leaks, mainly due to the age of the supply networks, an amount that would guarantee water for 3.4 million Andalusians in a year”.
Crespo thanked the mayors of the 14 municipalities of Almeria for their “commitment to saving water in order to avoid water leaks to their 51,000 inhabitants at a time like the present, of persistent drought, but also and above all for the future”.
The Councillor explained that “we took advantage of last Wednesday’s meeting in Madrid with the Secretary of State for the Environment of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Hugo Morán, to request, once again, the almost 59 million euros we need, to reach 70 million euros to cover the entire demand for aid from municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants, which have been left on the waiting list and which need this action to increase the water guarantee for their residents”.
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development also highlighted the meeting with the Secretary of State for the Environment that “he has attended to Andalusia’s request on important issues, including the fact that a date has already been set for the start of work on the Bajo Almanzora I desalination plant, which has been out of service since 2010 due to a flood, and we have asked him to speed up the work so that our province can benefit from the possibilities of this infrastructure as soon as possible”. Crespo also highlighted the achievement of two additional desalination plants for Andalusia, one in La Axarquía and the other in the Levante Almeriense, the Bajo Almanzora II, for which the Andalusian Government will provide the land.
Finally, the Regional Minister of Agriculture has highlighted the work of the Regional Ministry for the connection of the reservoirs of Pipa Alta and San Cristóbal, “about to be inaugurated”, and which will mean that the entire population of the capital of Almeria can be supplied with desalinated water, a water source from which they can also be supplied, thanks to the works of the Andalusian Government, in the municipalities of Roquetas de Mar and El Ejido. In this case, as it is a question of the autonomous community’s aid to these towns, Carmen Crespo has asked the Spanish Government to carry out the necessary connection to desalinated water for the municipalities of Adra, La Mojonera and Balanegra.
In short, Carmen Crespo stressed that “what we are working for is to ensure that Almeria and Andalusia as a whole have the necessary capacity to face the future with guaranteed, balanced and sufficient water supply”.
