The Costa del Sol, one of Europe's leading golf tourism destinations, is expanding its network of facilities for distribution recycled water to courses for irrigation purposes.

The Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Costa del Sol Occidental (Western Costa del Sol Association of Municipalities), through its public utility company Acosol, currently supplies more recycled water to golf courses than any other area in continental Europe. The association comprises 11 municipalities extending along a coastline of nearly 100 kilometres, including Torremolinos, Benalmádena, Mijas, Fuengirola, Ojén, Istán, Marbella, Benahavís, Estepona, Casares and Manilva. Acosol currently supplies recycled water to 36 golf courses (representing a total of more than 500 holes), of the 42 coming under the auspices of the Mancomunidad – an annual total of seven cubic hectometres.

Now, the association is investing millions of euros in expanding its network with the aim of supplying all the 50 or so courses located within the area covered by the Mancomunidad. The association claims that in Andalucía, recycled water is used to irrigate a greater surface of golf course land than in any other region in Spain. One complex, Alcaidesa Resort in Campo de Gibraltar, has even invested in its own waste water treatment plant to irrigate its two courses.