The cut-off low (DANA) known as Adam has damaged 29 wastewater treatment plants in the provinces of Valencia and Alicante, the Valencian regional government (Generalitat Valenciana) reported on 22 October. The first damage estimate is 2.5 million euros: about two million in the province of Valencia and 500,000 euros in Alicante. The President of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, gave the figures during a visit to the Xeraco treatment plant.

Of the 29, two were out of service: Benidoleig and Oliva Nova. The Generalitat says its priority is to bring them back into operation as soon as possible. The rest had damage of various kinds, and some sewers were also affected.

The damage reported by the Generalitat:

  • Province of Valencia. At the Oliva-Casco plant, one of the worst affected, floodwater damaged the electrical panels, the standby generator and the transformer station, and the plant had to shut down temporarily (it is not one of the two the Generalitat lists as out of service). The Gandia-La Safor plant had problems with its pumps, biogas system, communications and power supply. Palma de Gandia-Ador had to run on emergency generators, and at Xeraco a fault in the aeration pipework of the biological reactor is being repaired. Barx had a temporary shutdown and overflows, and Tavernes Goleta had faults in two turbines.
  • Province of Alicante. The main damage is to Pego’s south trunk sewer, where debris carried by the water damaged several sections, and to the Poblets-Verger plant, with pumping problems, accumulated sludge and debris, and electrical faults. The Benidoleig plant lost its power supply and may have been damaged by the flooding of the river Girona. There was also flooding and electromechanical damage at facilities in Adsubia, Benitatxell, Dénia-El Verger, Teulada, Sanet i Negrals, Xixona and Vall de Gallinera.

A team of 106 people is working on the recovery, 55 in Valencia and 51 in Alicante, including technical staff, plant operators and contractors. The work includes deploying emergency generators, repairs to electrical panels, transformer stations, pumps and electromechanical equipment, removal of sludge and debris, and the inspection and cleaning of sewers. The Generalitat will carry out the work at the plants it owns and will help rebuild municipal ones where the local councils cannot take it on.

Sources: Generalitat Valenciana, 22 October 2026, and MarinaAlta.es, 22 October 2026 (in Spanish). Image: Gata de Gorgos wastewater treatment plant (Marina Alta, Alicante). Joanbanjo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).