Alex Trelinski
HOTELS in Catalunya’s famous Lloret de Mar beach resort are clubbing together to get their own desalination plant which means swimming pools will be open as normal this summer.
The cost of the desalination plant- supplied by Valencian company Hidro Water- will be €1.5 million and funded by hotel and hospitality businesses.
It means that 150 swimming pools will be filled up, which would not have been possible under drought emergency laws.
The initiative has been backed by Lloret del Mar council and though authorisation is needed from the regional government, the president of the Lloret Hotel and Catering Association, Enric Dotras, says that he’s ‘fully confident’ they’ll get it.
The plant should be ready to serve the Costa Brava resort by late May or early June.
The project to install the desalination plant is now in the final process of being approved by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA),
Although there was initial reluctance, the Catalunya government announced on March 7 that it would allow private desalination plants for uses such as filling swimming pools, so long as it could be justified in maintaining businesses and jobs.
Enric Dotras and Lloret mayor, Adria Lamelas, presented details of the initiative on Thursday and made assurances they will have all permits in place after talks with the government.
Lamelas said that key to setting up the plant is that ‘it is being done by the private sector without asking for money from public coffers’.
Enric Dotras said the new infrastructure was ‘strategic’ because droughts may last for years and also that it puts Lloret at a ‘competitive advantage over other destinations’.
“With the guarantee of swimming pools being open, a message of normality is transmitted to tourists and tour operators, since they will have an experience like in previous years,” he commented.
A total of 103 companies are part of the project, which is open to hotels and apartments, and has been extended to the neighbouring town of Tossa de Mar and the Camiral Golf and Wellness establishment in Caldes de Malavella.
