What are the difficulties of building a
sewerage system in a marina?
Empuriabrava is residential marina with se-
veral kilometres of totally flat streets and
navigable canals many of which are at the
doorsteps of the homes. The urbanisation
was originally designed with a conventional
sewer system for areas where there were
multi-family buildings, and septic tanks for
one-family homes (around 10,000 homes).
In 1998, the city council decided to elimina-
te the septic tanks and to build a conventio-
nal sewer system. Because there were no
slopes, underground water began to flow
as soon as they started to dig one metre
in the ground, making the construction very
difficult, dangerous, and expensive. The si-
tuation was so critical that the project was
halted for a few months until a solution
could be found. Finally, the solution was to
build a vacuum sewer system.
Is this a first of its kind project in Spain?
In 1998, it was a completely innovative pro-
ject. City council representatives and those
in charge of the project travelled to Holland
to check the appropriateness of this sys-
tem in situ. They were impressed and did
not hesitate to implement this system for
the Empuriabrava sewers. The installation
is currently the longest in Spain and provi-
des service to 10,000 households, that is,
approximately 35,000 people in the high
season.
What would you highlight about this pro-
ject?
Its technology, innovative but simple and
robust at the same time, which has made
it possible to solve waste water collection
at the Marina.
I n t e r v i e w i n g
Santiago Cané,
head of the Empuriabrava service
It is the largest installation
of its type in Spain and provides
serves to 10,000 homes, that is,
approximately 35,000 people during
the high season
