Veolia has started up the Campo Dalías desalination plant in southern Spain  - the plant is one of the biggest in Europe.

Following a total investment of €130 million, the Campo Dalías plant will produce more than 97 million litres of desalinated water per day to supply a population of 300,000 people and allow the irrigation of 8,000 hectares in the western part of the Andalusian province of Almeria, in the South of Spain.

Designed and built by Veolia Water Technologies’ Spanish office as part of a joint venture, the Campo Dalías desalination facility has been promoted by the Spanish Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Environment through Aguas de las Cuencas Mediterráneas S.A. or Acuamed, the Ministry’s main instrument for development of the Mediterranean River Basin Development Programme. The main aim of the public corporation is in contracting, constructing, purchasing and operating public water works in the following river basins: Segura, Júcar, Ebro, Andalusian Mediterranean and Internal Catalan Basins.

Acuamed is responsible for over a hundred state Programme initiatives around the Mediterranean basins, in pursuit of three main objectives: to increase water resources, to improve water management and to restore the environment.

Seawater desalination is increasingly important solution to rising water scarcity

Acuamed describes desalination as its “most valuable ally” in sourcing water where resources are scarce and the most cost-effective, flexible and the cleanest alternative to ensure supply regardless of weather conditions.

Seawater desalination represents an increasingly important solution to the rising water scarcity afflicting many of the world’s regions.

With a current capacity of 97,200 m3/d, the Campo Dalías plant’s infrastructures were designed for an expansion to 129,600 m3/d should extra capacity be needed in the future. Veolia Water Technologies Spain will also take on the operation of the plant for 15 years, starting in November 2015, together with its joint venture partners.

Construction of the plant was completed in November 2014 – the figures involved give an idea of the magnitude of the project which required more than 1,200,000 manpower hours, a total of 12,810 membranes were fitted and 41 km of distribution pipelines were constructed. The plant includes 730 control instruments and more than 3,000 pieces of electromechanical equipment have been installed, both static and rotating.

Veolia said the start-up of the desalination plant will have a positive environmental impact in the region: the use of available water resources through desalination will allow the natural regeneration of the aquifers and avoid their agricultural overexploitation.

“The Campo Dalías desalination plant represents an important reference for Veolia"

“The Campo Dalías desalination plant represents an important reference for Veolia and proves the capacity of the Spanish team to design, construct and operate big size projects”, said José Ángel Legaz, Managing Director for Veolia Water Technologies in Spain and Portugal. “Since last July, the plant has been providing water for agriculture and it will be operating at full capacity as of November to supply water to this water-scarce region of Spain”

The process begins with the intake of the raw water via a 1.6 kilometer-long submarine pipewhich s first pretreated by a battery of 40 double-stage filters before going to the double-pass reverse osmosis.

The desalinated water is then post-treated through remineralization and a final disinfection step ensures that the output water reaching the delivery points is suitable for both human consumption and irrigation. The water distribution network is also part of the work scope and includes a 41 km gravity distribution network to deliver the produced water to end users.