In December 2017, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported, citing local newspaper The Leader, that Spain's agriculture and environment ministry intended to double the capacity of the Torrevieja desalination plant. The goal was to ease water shortages among farmers in the Valencia region, and the ministry planned to subsidise part of the price paid for desalinated water. The 240,000 m³/day reverse osmosis plant was the largest in Spain's Plan Agua and in Europe. Acciona Agua designed, supplied and operated it. According to the report, it ran below full capacity.
The report showed that expanding an already very large plant was justified by farm demand, and that the state intended to support the price of desalinated water for users.