At the last International Tourism Fair (Fitur), held in Madrid in January, the tourism sector of Lloret de Mar felt the nervousness of the tour operator agencies. The message that Catalonia was facing a severe drought had crossed borders. “They asked us if there would be normality, if they could carry out their operations here without problems”, explains the president of the Lloret de Mar Hoteliers Guild, Enric Dotras. The answer was always yes.
At the same time, the union, in collaboration with the City Council, began work on a project for a mobile desalination plant that would make it possible to fill the swimming pools of the establishments and “save the tourist season” in the second municipality in Catalonia with the most hotel beds, only behind Barcelona An infrastructure that is now in the final stretch of the processing process with the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), which must authorize its use. If the deadlines are met, it could become operational between the end of May and the beginning of June.
So far, 103 companies, most from Lloret de Mar, but also around thirty from the neighboring town of Tossa and a resort in Caldes de Malavella, will use water from the desalination plant for the correct operation of their swimming pools. Among the beneficiaries is also a water park.
The installation, with a capacity to treat around 50,000 liters per hour, has a cost of 1.5 million euros, an amount that will be paid by the same entrepreneurs who benefit from the water resource. The amount to be disbursed by each one will vary depending on the number of rooms, plots, bungalows or apartments they have. The amount of water they will use at the moment is unknown, as it depends on many factors such as the time of year, the volume of the water sheet or the type of pool. In no case, however, will there be excess water that must be thrown into the sea. The councilor for the Water Service, Nino Gómez, explains that the machinery will adapt production based on demand. The sector is also waiting for possible changes to the Special Drought Plan adapted to desalination plants to find out if private swimming pools can also benefit from this resource. At the moment, it is not possible.
The water will be collected from a well, located near the Museu del Mar, which will undergo a first natural filtration. From there the water will be pumped through a pipe to the storage tanks, located at the end of the promenade. Using a reverse osmosis system, the water will be desalinated and once treated it will be stored in a tank, from where it will be distributed by tanker to all the tourist accommodations that have paid for the installation. Each establishment must build a tank where it can store the water that will be supplied once a week.
The mayor of Lloret de Mar, Adrià Lamelas, emphasizes that the installation is essential to guarantee “environmental sustainability” and to “preserve” jobs in the tourism sector, which exceed 12,000.
