The Lloret de Mar portable desalination plant that will allow swimming pools in hotel establishments to be filled will come into operation between the end of May and the beginning of June and will be operational for a few hours a day, depending on demand.
To date, a total of 103 establishments, most of them from Lloret de Mar, and around thirty from the neighboring town of Tossa have joined the initiative, which will be paid entirely by the private sector. It will also provide water to the swimming pools of the Camiral Golf resort
The equipment, which will have a capacity to treat up to 50,000 liters of water per hour, has cost 1.5 million euros, which will be paid by the different hotel establishments that want to benefit from desalinated water to refill their pools. The amount to pay for each of these clients will vary depending on the places available.
The promoters of the initiative have no doubt that they will obtain all the necessary permits to locate this water installation, which will be located at one end of the Gran de Lloret beach, in front of the well-known Roca d'en Maig. At this time, the project is in the final processing process with the Catalan Water Agency (ACA), which must authorize its use.
The Gremi d'Hotels of Lloret de Mar announced on February 15 the purchase of the desalination plant, thus advancing the administration that did not authorize until March 7 the possibility of installing private desalination plants for refilling swimming pools, as long as It is justified that the ultimate purpose is the maintenance of economic activity and jobs.
The president of the union, Enric Dotras, recognizes that since they announced the purchase of this water infrastructure, the markets and tour operations have relaxed. He acknowledges that there was some nervousness and some were even reconsidering going to other destinations.
For his part, the mayor of Lloret de Mar, Adrià Lamelas, has highlighted that the facility is essential for “environmental sustainability” and to preserve jobs linked to the municipality's tourism sector, which exceed 12,000. The City Council supports the initiative at a technical level.
The manufacture of the desalination plant will be carried out by the Valencian company Hidro Water. The councilor of the Lloret de Mar Water Service, Nino Gómez, explains that the water will be collected from a well, located near the Museum of the Sea, which will make a first natural filtering of the seawater.
From there, the water will be pumped through a pipe to the storage tanks, approximately 1.5 km away, 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 this point, the water will be distributed by tanker trucks to all the hotels that have paid for the installation of the desalination plant. A daily delivery will not be made to each hotel, but will be weekly. Each establishment must build a warehouse where it can store the resource that will be supplied once a week.
