Some areas of Spain are already suffering this summer from the first water supply cuts and limitations on its use. It is the logical consequence of an extreme drought that has dragged on since the end of 2021, with a lack of rainfall that has been alarming experts for months. Some municipalities of up to five autonomous communities have begun to implement restrictions in order to guarantee human consumption, which is always the highest priority.
The lack of rain forecasts, the increase in use due to the strong heat and holidays, and the low levels of the swamps do not augur that the situation will improve in the short term and even warn of the possibility that the restrictions may end up being extended and end up affecting more populated areas.
The data is not good at all despite the fact that the rains of May and June brought a little respite. The levels of the reservoirs are still well below the average of the last ten years: while as of July 31, 2023 they are at 42.1%, the average for that same week in the last 10 years is 58, 5%, according to data from Embalses.net. The situation is more critical in Andalusia, where reserves are at 23.5%.
This is the situation in the autonomous communities that are applying more restrictions:
The levels of the interior basins of Catalonia have led the Catalan administration to take unprecedented measures: decreeing an emergency due to drought in 24 municipalities of Girona. The emergency situation, which will be implemented from next week, implies that there will be a global water consumption limitation of 200 liters per inhabitant per day. However, it will be carried out only in municipal services, so tap water cuts are not yet expected.
The Catalan municipalities affected are located in the area of the Fluvià-Muga aquifer (22), in the Alt Empordà, and in the Riudecanyes reservoir (2), in the Baix Camp. In total, there are about 25,000 inhabitants.
For its part, the central region of Barcelona (served by the Ter and Llobregat), with reservoirs at 28% of their maximum capacity, could go into emergency at the end of November if it does not rain.
The Catalan Water Agency (ACA) insists on the need to use it responsibly and reminds us that the ideal figure for consumption is 90 liters per person per day.
In Andalusia, the main municipalities affected by the restrictions in the water supply are in Lucena (Córdoba) and in the Sierra de Huelva, where there are 13 towns with cuts. The most affected town is Cumbres Mayores (Huelva), where, since May, there have been power cuts for 11 hours: from nine at night to eight in the morning.
In towns such as Santa Olalla del Cala, Cala and Cortelazor -all of them in Huelva-, there are eight-hour blackouts during the early morning and in others, such as Aroche, the restrictions are from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.;
The low level of the water tanks in Lucena (Córdoba) -the second municipality with the most inhabitants in the province after the capital- has led the municipal company to cut off the supply between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Monday to Friday and from 00:00 to 08:00 on weekends, although last weekend they also applied extraordinary cuts in the afternoon. In addition, in municipalities such as Santaella or Priego de Córdoba there are also night cuts.
In Malaga there are almost 30 municipalities with restrictions and some like Vélez-Málaga have announced that there will be cuts in the supply at dawn.
The most affected municipalities in this province are in the Guadalhorce and Axarquía regions where, in addition to the water cuts, hundreds of private swimming pools have had to close their doors this summer in towns such as Rincón de la Victoria, Iznate or Almáchar. In Torrox, Rincón de la Victoria and Algarrobo they have also closed the footbaths of the showers on their beaches.
In Extremadura, the nine municipalities of the community of Tentudía (Badajoz) suffer nightly cuts in the supply of drinking water after the activation of phase III of the Drought Emergency Plan, which also provides for cuts in suburban areas and the prohibition of watering gardens and areas green, fill fountains or clean the streets.
Neither can you wash vehicles or fill public or private pools, a measure that the 21 municipalities of the Commonwealth of Llerena (Badajoz) have suffered for a long time, in which water consumption has been limited to 189 liters per person per day.
The effects of the drought and the increase in the population during the summer in the Aragonese Pyrenees have forced them to supply water to two towns that lack sufficient supply resources these days by means of a tanker truck from the Fire Prevention, Extinction and Salvage (SPEIS)
As reported by the Diputación de Huesca, the truck has begun this week to collaborate with all the populations that have requested this support.
In addition, on August 1, the service firefighters supplied the inhabitants of the Nachá nucleus with 21,000 liters of water, and this Thursday they transferred another 14,000 liters to the town of Aguinaliu.
On July 21, Augas de Galicia, responsible for the Galicia Costa system that has 67% reservoirs, declared a pre-alert due to moderate water shortages in the Mero river basins, which supplies the metropolitan area of A Coruña, from the Anllóns river - Costa da Morte- and in the Baiona subsystem, in the south of the province of Pontevedra.
In the north of the province of Lugo, in A Mariña, there are several municipalities -Barreiros, O Valadouro and Xove- that demand responsible use and ask to limit use to essential issues, while Guitiriz, in the interior of the province, has It is forbidden to fill swimming pools.
In the rest of Galicia -at 67.1% of its capacity-, which depends on the Miño-Sil Hydrographic Confederation, it does not currently have any type of restriction.
