Murcia Invests 3M Euros in Water Recycling

The government of Spain’s Murcia region said on May 21 it will spend 3 million euros on a new water link between the wastewater treatment plants in Torre Pacheco and Los Alcázares, part of a push to increase the use of reclaimed water in agriculture. The project is aimed at the Campo de Cartagena, one of the region’s main farming areas, where irrigators depend on a mix of transferred, desalinated and regenerated supplies. Sara Rubira, Murcia’s regional minister for water, agriculture, livestock and fisheries, presented the plan at the Torre Pacheco plant, according to the regional government. The regional cabinet had already approved the spending in April at 3.137 million euros, according to official and local reports. ### Which plants are being connected, and what will be built? The two plants are the EDARs in Torre Pacheco and Los Alcázares, the regional government said. Murcia said it will build a new hydraulic connection so treated water from Torre Pacheco can be moved into the Campo de Cartagena system and used more effectively by irrigators. La 7 TV, citing the regional presentation, said the works include a pipeline of more than five kilometers. (carm.es) That conduit will carry treated water from the Torre Pacheco facility to the Campo de Cartagena network, where it can be managed alongside other available resources. ### Why does the project focus on salinity? (carm.es) Campo de Cartagena irrigators are expected to mix the reclaimed water with other sources, including water from the Tajo-Segura transfer, to improve quality and reduce salinity, according to the regional government’s account of the project. Murcia.com and the Torre Pacheco municipality, which reproduced the regional announcement, said the connection is designed to make reclaimed water more usable for farm irrigation by allowing that blending. (la7tv.es) Sara Rubira said the project would help advance “a more efficient, sustainable and useful” water-management model for the primary sector, according to Murcia.com’s reproduction of her remarks. Her comments framed the investment as part of a broader effort to stretch non-conventional water sources in a region with chronic supply pressure. (murcia.com) ### How important is reclaimed water already in Murcia? Murcia already reuses an unusually high share of treated wastewater compared with Spain and Europe, according to regional government material and Esamur, the public sanitation and treatment entity. The region says more than 99% of urban wastewater is treated, and around 98% of regenerated water is reused each year, mainly in agriculture. Esamur says it manages 100 wastewater treatment plants that regenerate about 121 cubic hectometres of water annually. (murcia.com) Those figures help explain why the new link is being presented as an infrastructure upgrade rather than a standalone supply source. Murcia’s water agencies have been investing in treatment, reuse and digitalisation projects across the network, including a 7.3 million euro artificial-intelligence programme announced in November 2025 to improve regeneration processes at wastewater plants. (carm.es) ### Why does this matter in Campo de Cartagena? Campo de Cartagena is one of Murcia’s most important irrigated farming zones, and water quality can be as important as water volume. The regional government said the new connection is intended to increase the agricultural use of regenerated water by making it easier to integrate with other supplies available to the irrigation community. (carm.es) La 7 TV said the beneficiary users are regantes in the Campo de Cartagena, and the Torre Pacheco municipality said the works are meant to encourage reclaimed-water use by the Comunidad de Regantes del Campo de Cartagena. Both accounts tie the project directly to irrigation management rather than urban consumption. (carm.es) ### What happens next? The April approval by Murcia’s Council of Government set the budget at 3,137,373 euros, according to Agrodiario. The next step is the construction of the new connection between the two plants, a project Rubira presented publicly on May 21 at the Torre Pacheco EDAR. (agrodiario.com) (la7tv.es)