Alicante province’s Marina Baja needs more rain

RAIN that fell at the beginning of March alleviated the prospect of imminent drought but did not banish it entirely.

The Marina Baja Water Consortium, which supplies Benidorm, Villajoyosa, Finestrat, Alfaz, La Nucia and Polop with their domestic water, warned that the area’s aquifers and reservoirs need two more episodes of heavy rain between now and May.

Speaking to the provincial media, the Consortium’s chief engineer Jaime Berenguer explained that the recent rain had at least benefitted agriculture, reducing growers’ demands for irrigation water from the area’s depleted aquifers.

“But the last two years have been dryer than usual, with a total rainfall of 600 millimetres of rain,” he said.  “This is practically the same amount that would fall in a normal year.”

At present, the Amadorio reservoir in Villajoyosa is at 33 per cent capacity with 5.2 cubic hectometres of water.   The Guadalest reservoir, which also provides the Consortium’s water, contains 4.9 hectometres, 37 per cent of its usual capacity.

Without abundant rains over the next two months, the Marina Baja would face severe drought, Berenguer said.

He also stressed that the domestic supply was guaranteed, thanks to desalinated water, but admitted that this would be more expensive and a price review might be necessary.