EPSAR reports that it cost some 533,000 euros to fix outfall break

In the coming weeks, divers will check its correct operation

Arenal beach, last Friday. In the centre, there are no longer the red buoys that marking off the point of the break.

Monday 8th August 2022 · Mike Smith
Source: XAD (Carlos López)

EPSAR, the Public Wastewater Sanitation Company of the Comunidad Valenciana which is part of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment, has forked out more than 553,000 euros to repair the Xàbia outfall that broke for the umpteenth time on April 24.

The repair works, apparently, have finished and there are no longer the four red buoys that marked in the water off the Arenal beach which the point of the break in front of the pedalo rental area. And the status will be remain so until the end of the season when the tourists leave and the operators will return.

Last Friday, the regional government confirmed that an agreement has been made in which the emergency declaration of the repair work of the outfall is “extended”. This extension, already executed, occurred after detecting the plug of sand and algae in the mouth of the outfall that prevented “the circulation of water in the section to which it should be connected.”

This extension has meant an extra payment of 379,333.27 euros from EPSAR, added to the 172,000 euros of the first contract signed with Pavasal, which means that the public company will have spent more than 553,000 euros on the outfall.

The outfall repair boat, last week

This agreement underlines that these “new works”, which concluded on the days that the beach was closed due to the spill, have consisted of “an initial inspection, an update of the environmental surveillance plan, the supply of materials for the assembly and the union of the pipes and tasks of transport and anchoring of these, as well as of connection with previous sections”.

And it confirmed that, during the next few weeks, the construction management will carry out “an underwater inspection of the work carried out to verify its correct operation”.

The regional government emphasizes that, during the execution of the work, “analytical water controls have been carried out at numerous points in the sanitation system, including the outlet of the effluent from the treatment plant, its route through the Fontana mouth and the outfall itself. At all times and under all circumstances, the results recorded in sanitation and outfall have been correct”.

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