Torrevieja City Council has approved a budget amendment at its latest plenary session, clearing the way for a 10% municipal funding contribution towards a major wastewater project. The Public Entity for Wastewater Treatment (EPSAR) will invest 16 million euro to upgrade two of its main wastewater pumping stations and the connecting collectors that lead to the Torrevieja wastewater treatment plant. This municipal contribution satisfies a long-standing condition set by the regional entity to progress the infrastructure works.
The two facilities in question—the Hombre del Mar pumping station on the main seafront promenade and the station in the residential area next to the pink salt lagoon—collect the largest volumes of greywater from Torrevieja’s sewage and sanitation network. The Hombre del Mar station manages around 40% of the wastewater flow from the urban area. Meanwhile, the Torreta Florida station handles the watershed draining into the lagoon depression, which carries water from Alto de la Casilla across a large portion of Torrevieja’s urban area, including La Hoya, Las Torretas, the industrial park, Doña Inés, and other residential developments.
This infrastructure is vital to support the local sanitation and pumping network, and crucially, to prevent occasional spills of waste mixed with rainwater. These overflows typically occur at the pumping stations on Paseo de Juan Aparicio del Hombre del Mar and on Calle Jorge Manrique de la Torreta Florida. Pipes run from both locations to transport water to the treatment plant, but the current network lacks the capacity to handle heavy rainfall. High pressure during the summer months and peak holiday periods creates further complications.
Because underground investments and wastewater management are difficult to showcase on municipal social media accounts, this critical plenary agreement has gone largely unnoticed. However, once completed, it will resolve a significant environmental and management problem for the area.
The project is structured across multiple years. It involves a municipal contribution of just 12,000 euro this year, with EPSAR spending a little over 100,000 euro on the project in 2026. Spending will increase substantially between now and 2028. The new Hombre del Mar pumping station is budgeted at 2.2 million euro, whilst replacing the 3.4-kilometre-long collector will cost 4.4 million euro, utilising a new 500 mm pipe.
A larger phase of the project focuses on the Calle Jorge Manrique pumping system, where 9.26 million euro will be spent to replace the current pressure pipe with two large 700 mm collectors running parallel to the Torrevieja Lagoon. To cope with the inadequate facilities in recent years, the municipal company has previously stepped in with measures such as the floodable park in Torrealmendros to prevent sewage overflows during moderate rain. These historic overflows caused property devaluation in residential areas that are currently experiencing high levels of buying, selling, and renovation.
Torrevieja’s wider sanitation network relies on 28 wastewater pumping stations and 7 stormwater stations. The two EPSAR stations are not alone in facing issues; overflows have also occurred on Avenida Doctor Waskman, opposite Mar Bella, and at two recently renovated stations on La Mata beach.
In 2025, the Torrevieja wastewater treatment plant, managed by Agamed through EPSAR, treated 8,105,976 m³ of wastewater, averaging a flow of 22,208 m³ per day.
Meanwhile, major infrastructure projects under Torrevieja’s 2018 stormwater management plan remain stalled due to a lack of budget. A proposal by the current concessionaire to finance the 25 million euro works in exchange for a service extension beyond 2028 was rejected on legal grounds.
The only stormwater project likely to advance in the medium term is a storm tank for the La Hoya Sector 20 mega-development. This will be financed by the joint venture managing the sector rather than Agamed, once the second phase of urbanisation is unblocked. Located on municipal land in Las Torretas, below the CV-905, the tank will capture flows currently held in a regulating pond parallel to the road. The wider master plan also outlines an underground storm tank at the water park car park, alongside connections for Torrealmendros and Doña Inés via an underground box along the greenway, ultimately draining rainwater through the Acequión canal.
