Editing Melilla (section)

=== Water supply ===
[[File:Planta desaladora de Melilla.jpg|thumb|View of the Melilla's desalination plant]]
Melilla's water supply primarily came from a network of dug wells (which by the turn of the 21st century suffered from overexploitation and had also experienced a degradation of the water quality and the intrusion of [[seawater]]),<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 February 2008 |title=El trabajo de la desalinizadora mejora la calidad del agua y la sitúa en los parámetros exigidos por Sanidad y Consumo |url=https://www.diariosur.es/20080220/local/melilla/trabajo-desalinizadora-mejora-calidad-200802200802.html?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F}}</ref> as well as the capture of the [[Río de Oro (Melilla)|Río de Oro]]'s underflow.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 July 2014 |title=Melilla ahorrará un 6% de agua a partir de la segunda fase de planificación hidrológica |url=https://www.europapress.es/impulsamos/consumo-sostenible/noticia-melilla-ahorrara-agua-partir-segunda-fase-planificacion-hidrologica-20140514092711.html |website=[[Europa Press (news agency)|Europa Press]]}}</ref> Seeking to address the water supply problem, works for the construction of a [[desalination plant]] in the Aguadú cliffs, projected to produce {{convert|22000|m3|cuyd|abbr=on}} a day, started in November 2003.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ronda |first=Javier |date=January 2004 |title=Adiós al problema del agua en Melilla |url=https://www.mapa.gob.es/ministerio/pags/Biblioteca/Revistas/pdf_AM%2FAM_2004_29_15_19.pdf |journal=Ambienta}}</ref> The plant entered operation in March 2007.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 September 2009 |title=Espinosa anuncia una inversión de 10 millones para ampliar la desalinizadora de Melilla |url=https://www.europapress.es/nacional/noticia-espinosa-anuncia-inversion-10-millones-ampliar-desalinizadora-melilla-20090929170054.html |website=[[Europa Press (news agency)|Europa Press]]}}</ref> Its daily operation is partially funded by the central government.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 September 2013 |title=El Gobierno financia con 3,9 millones el funcionamiento de la desalinizadora |url=https://www.diariosur.es/v/20130924/melilla/gobierno-financia-millones-funcionamiento-20130924.html |website=[[Diario Sur]]}}</ref> Relative to the Spanish average (and similarly to the [[Canary Islands|Canary]] and [[Balearic Islands|Balearic]] Islands), the city's population spends a comparatively larger amount of money on [[bottled water]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Villarreal |first1=Antonio |last2=Ojeda |first2=Darío |date=9 April 2021 |title=Las dos Españas del agua: al oeste se tira más del grifo y en el resto aprecian la embotellada |url=https://www.elconfidencial.com/tecnologia/ciencia/2021-04-09/dos-espanas-agua-embotellada-consumo_3025615/ |website=[[El Confidencial]]}}</ref>

Funded by the [[European Regional Development Fund]] and the {{ill|Confederación Hidrográfica del Guadalquivir|es}}, works for the expansion of the plant's production capabilities up to {{convert|30000|m3|cuyd|abbr=on}} a day started by September 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 September 2020 |title=Arrancan los trabajos para la ampliación de la desaladora de Melilla |url=https://elfarodemelilla.es/arrancan-trabajosampliacion-desaladora-melilla/ |website=El Faro de Melilla}}</ref>