Malaga has only one year of water left

If it doesn’t rain again in 2023, Malaga has no more than one year of water left.

The lack of rainfall continues to mean that water resources have to be limited so that the supply can last as long as possible and Malaga has had to update its restrictions to meet the requirements of the Junta de Andalucía, a saving of 20%.

Councillor responsible for Environmental Sustainability, Penélope Gómez, said that the city of Malaga has only one year’s supply left if it does not rain this year or if the same rainfall as last year is recorded.

Watering restrictions

The new measures, according to Gómez, limit the use of drinking water, but will not affect the domestic supply (yet!).  From now on the use of drinking water for street washing, filling private swimming pools, watering gardens, public or private parks and golf courses will be immediately prohibited. Likewise, cars may not be washed outside authorised establishments that do not have a recycled water system.

Fixing leaks

According to Gómez, there are plans to reduce water pressure in those areas where it is highest and where there are higher rates of losses due to the age of the pipes. Emasa is also working to detect and fix water leaks: so far they have intervened at 25 different points where there were indications of water leaks.

In order to take advantage of underground water resources, the City Council will work to put disused wells into operation so that, “we can save more and use less water from the reservoirs”, according to the Councillor for sustainability.

More severe measures possible

With all these measures in place, Gómez said that the Local Police will be able to carry out surveillance and control tasks to ensure compliance with what has been established and in the case any infringement, they can impose fines of over €6,000 even in the case of minor infractions.

The Councillor added that they are prepared for the possibility of imposing more restrictions, which would come into place if the reservoir system were to become even more severe.