Water Utility Acosol Prepares Major Overhaul for Fuengirola and Mijas Treatment Plant A secondary expansion of the joint wastewater facility will bolster water recycling capabilities for coastal gardens and golf courses. Engineers from Acosol have begun technical assessments for a second major upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant serving Fuengirola and Mijas, a facility that already handles the sewage and run-off of tens of thousands of coastal properties. The works are needed, the utility says, because tertiary filtration at the site has not kept pace with the building boom along this stretch of coast. Upgrading Recycled Water Supplies Reservoirs such as La Concepción, which supplies much of the western Costa del Sol, have spent long stretches of recent summers at worryingly low levels. That reality has turned the modernisation of urban treatment plants from a regulatory box-ticking exercise into something closer to economic necessity for town halls along the coast. The second phase of works at the Fuengirola-Mijas plant is centred on expanding tertiary treatment capacity substantially. In practice, that means more of the water currently discharged after basic processing would instead be cleaned to a standard fit for reuse — irrigating public parks, washing down streets, and keeping golf courses green without touching the drinking supply. That distinction matters more than it might sound. Acosol and the municipalities it serves are trying to build a closed loop in which non-potable recycled water handles everything from municipal gardens to communal gardens in new developments, leaving drinking water reserves for, well, drinking. It is a model several Spanish coastal regions have adopted as reservoirs have become less reliable from one year to the next. Coping With Population Influx The numbers behind the strain are straightforward. Both Fuengirola and Mijas have added thousands of new homes in recent years, with growth concentrated in areas such as Las Lagunas and the wider coastal suburbs. Add the seasonal tourist population, and the plant's daily processing load can roughly double during the peak summer months — a surge that older filtration circuits, some installed more than ten years ago, were never designed to absorb comfortably. The upgrade programme involves thorough testing of the biological purification tanks that form the first stage of treatment, alongside the installation of automated membrane filtration units to handle the increased tertiary load. Acosol engineers are also looking at better enclosing the open settling ponds on site, a change that should reduce the odours that have long irritated residents in neighbourhoods close to the facility. No firm completion date has been given publicly, but the scope of works — covering both biological and membrane-based systems — suggests a phased rollout over the coming seasons rather than a single quick fix. Resilience for Western Costa Homeowners For people who own property on the western Costa del Sol, or are weighing up a purchase, water security has quietly become as important a consideration as location or sea views. Developments with verified links to recycled irrigation networks tend to show lower communal maintenance charges over time, simply because communities are not paying to keep gardens alive with costly potable water during restrictions. That resilience also shows up when hosepipe bans bite. Urbanisations connected to a recycled supply can usually keep pools topped up to safe levels and communal green spaces intact while neighbouring developments face brown lawns and dry fountains. As local councils tighten urban water bylaws ahead of future summers — a near-certainty given recent drought cycles — buyers and existing owners alike are starting to ask estate agents directly whether a property's community is tied into this kind of system. For anyone searching for a home in Fuengirola, Mijas or further along the coast, this is the sort of practical detail worth raising early in the buying process, alongside more familiar checks like community fees and building licences. Specialists such as Marbella New Homes regularly field questions from buyers about exactly this point, reflecting how infrastructure concerns once left to town planners are now shaping everyday property decisions across the region. The Fuengirola-Mijas plant upgrade will not solve the Costa del Sol's wider water challenges on its own. But for the municipalities it serves, expanded tertiary treatment offers a tangible way to stretch limited reserves further, season after season, as the coast continues to grow.