Spanish water investment to hit € 1.2 billion this year

Desalination and water reuse projects are likely to be among the new water infrastructure projects worth € 700 million due to be tendered by Spain's Ministry for Environment & Rural & Marine Affairs (MARM) in the second half of 2011. 

Opening the second meeting on water infrastructure, organized by the newspaper Expansión, on 17 June 2011, MARM minister Rosa Aguilar pointed out that this brought Spain's investment in water projects this year to € 1,200 million. 

Recalling the series of plans her ministry had initiated for the sector, Aguilar gave as an example, the National Water Quality plan for 2007-15, half of which has been executed, bring wastewater treatment coverage in Spain to a level of 85-90%. The total investment would be € 19 billion. 

The National Plan for Water Reuse, with an investment of € 340 million euros, said the minister, aimed to double the total capacity of current reuse. In addition, she continued, actions were being developed in the field of desalination, managing extreme weather events, such as drought and floods, and environmental restoration of river ecosystems. 

Finally, Aguilar referred to innovation as a fundamental factor in the optimal implementation of water policy and praised Spanish companies, considered to be among the world's most advanced in this sector.