Starting this Wednesday, and at night (from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.), the eight municipalities that make up the Campo de Gibraltar region of Cádiz will suffer water cuts given the serious drought situation in the area, whose reservoirs have entered an ’emergency situation’ by storing 39.89 cubic hectometers of water.
But the restrictions do not end there. The situation is so serious that the Commonwealth has been forced to adopt measures also in the morning. Thus, from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. the supply pressure will be lowered, although this practice, according to Southern Europe, has been applied since autumn, which will not mean anything new in homes.
The objective is to recover the levels of the three reservoirs that supply the area (Charco Redondo, Guadarranque and Almodóvar) and, until this “critical threshold” is exceeded, the measures will remain in force.
There are more than 269,000 inhabitants who will be affected by these restrictions, which affect both the morning and the evening. On the other hand, the drop in pressure, as announced by the president of the Commonwealth of Municipalities of Campo de Gibraltar, Susana Pérez Custodio, will not affect all homes equally, but there will be important differences in those located in the mountains, where the cut will be total, and those located on the coast where a “thrill” could fall due to the accumulation of water from the network.
“For this point we especially ask the different users for responsibility, since at these times, this period from eleven at night to six in the morning, if there is a trickle of water in a home we ask that the restriction be absolute on the part of the users. own users,” the president of the Commonwealth added at a press conference.
In addition, he has pointed out that there are some prohibited uses of water, which if not followed would entail quite serious legal consequences, such as the irrigation of gardens and green areas, both public and private, the cleaning of roads, ornamental fountains, showers and public fountains, private swimming pools and vehicle washing outside authorized establishments.
It is not the first Andalusian province that is forced to carry out these cuts. During the past year, before the arrival of summer, many others imposed restrictions and limitations on the use of water. Seville, Córdoba and Málaga announced a series of prohibitions that, to this day, remain in force and that, according to forecasts, will continue to prevail for a long time in the absence of rain.
And the latest rainfall recorded in the community has not helped to alleviate the problem and the reservoirs closed the year at 20% of their capacity while the regional Executive asked for responsible consumption of this good.
It is the same message that Pérez Custodio is now sending, who has asked for citizen collaboration and collaboration from the eight municipalities of the region, since “the different mayors’ offices have been informed since last week that the restrictions began this Wednesday the 10th.” “We ask the eight town councils to collaborate with this Commonwealth, to keep their citizens informed and also to serve as an example regarding restrictions and responsible uses of water,” he added.
For his part, the delegate of Services, Manuel Avellán, recalled that “almost five years have passed in a dramatic situation of drought and unfortunately the last measure is the measures that must be adopted now, which are those that directly affect citizens.” “It is a measure that no one likes to announce but that is totally necessary in the situation we are in,” he added.
January starts with the “worst possible scenario” that the Drought Table had foreseen in October, explained the director of Argisa, José Manuel Alcántara, who pointed out that the critical level was marked by the 41.5 hectometers of water impounded in the complex. of reservoirs in the area. “Today it is below that level,” he said, “because there has been practically no rain and above all the contributions to the reservoirs have been minimal.”
In this sense, he added that these guidelines aim to save 20% of consumption and “this first set of measures and this first scenario of restrictions is intended to do just that, to see how it evolves between now and spring.”
