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Desalination plant to cost 8,000 euros per day even if unused

Although nearing completion the plant still has no firm customers for its water, Ciutadella Council refusing to commit itself until the cost is known

Ciutadella. The desalination plant is now in the final phase of construction

C.M.W.Maó04/10/10 0:00

With the European Union's contribution towards the cost of the desalination plant under construction in Ciutadella being far less than initally believed and amounting to between 15% and 20% of the project's total cost, the Balearic Government has been left with the balance of 45 million euros, a sum which must be repaid within 15 years of the project's completion. The Balearic Government's Director of Water Resources, Antoni Rodríguez, calculates this as some three million euros per year, or, more than 8,000 euros per day.

The original plan was to use the plant to its maximum potential, for which it would be necessary to sell as much water as possible to Ciutadella Council. However, the Council has refused to commit itself to purchasing the desalinated water until it knows the price to be charged per cubic metre, in spite of Rodríguez's argument that it was necessary to look ahead to a possible period of drought and to be able to supply the population with drinking water at that time, adding that there were times during this summer when the Council had been advised that its supply contained more than the permitted levels of chloride.

However the Balearic Government and Ciutadella Council have different concepts of the desalination plant's role in the municipal drinking water system.The Council views the plant as a resource to be used in case of necessity, to provide water that cannot be supplied from the wells. The Government, on the other hand, wants a change in attitude and the plant to be considered the main source of water for the district. Rodríguez explained that the wells should only be used occasionally to allow them to rest and regenerate, pointing out that allowing them to rest would cost nothing but having the desalination plant at a standstill would be expensive.

The idea of running a pipe from the desalination plant to Maó to provide drinking water and overcome the problem of nitrates in the district's own supply has been discounted by the Balearic Government in the short and medium term due to the expense involved, estimated at 40 million euros. However, Rodríguez suggests that water could be supplied to areas closer to the plant.