Desalination in Spain: A Growing Alternative for Water Supply

The Spanish Mediterranean coast has a significant water deficit. In order to deal with potential shortages in the future, the AGUA programme has been constructing desalination plants since 2004. Taking into account the growing importance of desalination in Spain, the objective of this research is to offer an overview of desalination in this country, its evolution and its present situation. This paper sets out to review the legal framework, the stakeholders who participate and support this activity, the technologies employed, the production costs and the environmental impacts. Some of the factors that have helped boost the interest in desalination are political support, the implementation of more adequate technologies and the favourable evolution of the associated costs.