More than 1,300 farmers and ranchers from the Antequera region have formed a community of irrigators to request the use of treated wastewater from Málaga city. The project, called Futuraqua, aims to irrigate 38,864 hectares with an investment of 800 million euros.
A total of 1,300 farmers and ranchers from the Antequera region have formalised a community of irrigators to request the concession of treated wastewater from Málaga city. The initiative, which began to take shape two years ago, has been presented to the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority and the Southern River Basin Authority, as confirmed by the manager of Málaga Agro-food Cooperatives, Carlos Cintas.
The Futuraqua Project: Water for the Antequera Fields
The project, named Futuraqua by DCOOP, aims to utilise the wastewater that the treatment plants in Málaga currently discharge into the sea. The Guadalhorce and Peñón del Cuervo treatment plants process about 60 cubic hectometres per year, a figure that will increase to 66 when the Northern Treatment Plant becomes operational. Of that volume, 46 cubic hectometres annually would be allocated for agricultural irrigation, while the remaining 20 would be reserved for green areas, golf courses, and the combined cycle power plant.
The community of irrigators has divided its request into two files due to the fact that the members' plots are spread across two river basins. The request directed to the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority affects 10,958 hectares, while the one submitted to the Southern River Basin Authority totals 27,906 hectares. In total, this reaches 38,864 hectares of irrigable land.
Infrastructure and Alternative Routes
The planned infrastructure consists of double pipes with a diameter of one metre, buried and equipped with pumping stations that will be accompanied by photovoltaic plants. One of the two pipelines would be reserved to supply the population in case of severe drought. Two alternative routes are being studied: the one that runs along the banks of the Guadalhorce, the original proposal from the cooperative, which reaches a maximum elevation of about 600 metres; and another proposed by the company Emasa through the Abdalajís Valley, which requires overcoming a height difference of 1,000 metres and would be more costly.
The total investment is estimated at 800 million euros, with a significant portion of the cost corresponding to the pumping facilities, which will include six main reservoirs with a combined power of 35 megawatts. The farmers from Antequera hope that the concession will be resolved within two to three years, according to sources from the community of irrigators.
For the reader in Antequera, this project represents hope in the face of the recurring drought that plagues the region. If realised, farmers will have a stable water resource for crops such as olives, cereals, and sunflowers. Additionally, treated wastewater would reduce pressure on local aquifers, a key environmental benefit for the area.
The next step will be the evaluation of the requests by the basin authorities, which will need to analyse the environmental impact and technical feasibility. Meanwhile, the project promoters are already working on detailed studies to present a final plan. The farmers from Antequera, however, will need to be patient: the journey from tap water to the fields is long, but at least they have taken the first step.
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