AFTER a 30-year wait the Ronda town of Arriate might finally get a sewage works at a cost of €5,432,924.
Water company Aguas de las Cuencas de España (Acuaes) has approved specifications to be put out to tender for the project, with a completion date set for 18 months after a tender is accepted.
The plant will serve a population equivalent of 6,575 inhabitants, and it will include a new one-kilometre-long pipe to carry wastewater to the new facilities, which will be built near the Guadalcobacín River that flows through the town.
Two wastewater pumping stations will be built as well as new power lines being installed.
The works are part of a €26.6 million scheme agreed just before Christmas by the Junta de Andalucia to improve the water quality in the Guadiaro river basin.
This borders the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park and is of high ecological value.
The mayor of Arriate, Javier Anet said: “We are very happy – it is a great achievement,” although he pointed out that ‘whenever the subject of the treatment plant comes up I always knock on wood, because we started talking about it 30 years ago’.
He hoped that the contract could be signed by the summer with work to start in 2022.
The construction of a sewage works has been in limbo for 30 years as central government and the Junta argued over who should pay.
In 2018, the EU fined Spain €12 million, with an additional €10.95 million for every six months it delays in complying with waste water legislation.
In Andalucia several towns still fail to comply and the fine is still being paid. Meanwhile, raw sewage continues to flow into streams and rivers in some of Spain’s most beautiful and protected natural areas, including the Guadalhorce Valley and the water basin around Ronda.
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