Today, Wednesday, January 21, work will begin on a part of the Levante Promenade. The work includes fixing the stormwater drainage system so that runoff doesn’t smell bad as it goes into the drains because there isn’t enough slope, and so that wastewater doesn’t get to the beach.
The work is focused on Calle Virgen del Sufragio, which the Councillor for Water Cycle, José Ramón González de Zárate, visited yesterday. The City Council says that the fences that will mark off the area where the work will take place have already been put up.
The 2023 Water Cycle Subsidy Plan will pay for half of the project’s costs, which total €244,219. The Benidorm City Council and the Alicante Provincial Council will each pay half of the costs. The councillor said, “It will definitely be done before Easter,” and the execution term has been set at two months. While the work is going on, every effort will be made to make sure that residents, transporters, and others can get to where they need to go as easily as possible, “minimising disruption to terraces, promenades, and the general activity of the area.”
The project entails putting in 142.95 metres of pipe of different sizes to carry rainwater and a small pumping station with two pumps.
The councillor said that the measure is a reaction to complaints from locals about bad smells in the region. To figure out what was going on, the drainage system was checked, and it turned out that the storm drains were too shallow. “There were no problems during rain events, but on a daily basis, uncontrolled discharges into storm drains, water runoff from washing down terraces, and other low-volume water didn’t have the speed and power to flow correctly. González de Zárate said, “This water sat in the pipes, broke down, and made the bad smells.” They further said that this street gets drainage from the Calvari basin.
The City Council further said that the polluted water was naturally draining onto the beach, which caused “nuisances and inconveniences.” The councillor said that this was why a big change to the area’s stormwater drainage infrastructure was planned. This change will not only make the pipes steeper, but it will also make sure that all the water goes to one pumping station. This modest building will then send the water to the wastewater network so that it doesn’t get to the beach.
This technology will also let the first runoff, which is “the most polluted and carries cigarette butts and other debris,” go to the wastewater network when it rains hard. But if more rain falls, the contaminants will still flow naturally to the sea through an overflow. This system is already in place in all of the city’s principal stormwater canals and ravines.
Author: Derek Appleton
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