Sea water desalination plant in Ciutadella, Menorca

What does it consist of?

Water is a precious and irreplaceable asset. Ciutadella is committed to a continuation of the sea water desalination plant, to meet the water needs of residents and visitors in this part of the island of Menorca.

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Data

LOCATION
Ibiza
Entity submitting the PROJECT
Govern de les Illes Balears
Awarded entity
Agència Balear de l'Aigua i la Qualitat Ambiental (ABAQUA)
Total project amount
396.581 €
ITS granted amount
396.581 €
Executed amount
388.262 €
Call year
2019
Planned execution
2020 - 2021
Execution status
Executed
Purpose
Environment
Budget execution
Executed: 97.9%
Last data request
25.09.2023

The project

It is calculated that 20% of Spanish territory has water shortage problems. In Spain, water to be used for human consumption comes from continental surface water, groundwater and coastal water.

A large population and high levels of tourism, and a high demand for irrigated crops, are all factors in the availability and need for new sources of high-quality water. The most commonly used technologies the world over are desalination and distillation. In Spain, desalination systems, using reverse osmosis with a semi-permeable membrane, are more common than distillation (or evaporation), which is much more costly in terms of the power used.

Additionally, because of the effects of climate change, the use of sea water is on the rise, with plants being built to desalinise sea water to make it drinkable so as to supply coastal areas, particularly those with high levels of tourism, such as the Balearic Islands.

The project at the sea water desalination plant in Ciutadella is due to the fact that there has been a drop in the quality of the permeated water, caused by more salts passing through the membranes than they should have allowed. Problems were also found at the energy exchanger, framework in a precarious condition, poor operation of the pre-treatment dosage pumps and shortcomings in the sand filters, among other issues.