The Andalusian reservoirs increase their water reserves by almost ten points with the recent rains that have irrigated the community thanks to the Nelson storm. Now, according to data from the Automatic Hydrological Information Systems (SAIH) of the Guadalquivir and Hidrosur, the swamps are almost at 40% of their capacity, a reserve of 4,800 cubic hectometres of the 12,000 cubic hectometres of the total capacity.
After several weeks of storing water, the heavy and continuous rainfall that has occurred this Easter has been one of the best news the region could receive, although it is expected that contributions will continue to increase by runoff effect. With this, and despite the fact that the drought committees must meet next week to assess the new situation and adopt decisions in accordance with the situation, they anticipate that measures such as cutting off night water or the drop in water pressure from the taps. In fact, the president of the Board of Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno, stated yesterday that “they will not bring boats loaded with water” in the summer.
It will also be the time to study the possibility of increasing water allocations for irrigators. The request was made by the general secretary of the Feragua, Pedro Parias, who has asked that, “without throwing the bells in the air”, the feasibility of improving these quotas for farmers will be studied, something that has been committed to the Councilor of the Presidency, Antonio Sanz. Although he has already announced that it will be necessary to “reflect” on the total increase in hydrological reserves due to the fact that “not in all territories or in all counties has it fallen with the incidence of what we could imagine and, therefore, the criteria will depend of each area”.
The rains have brought the Andalusian swamps to between 30% and 40%, a longed-for turnaround that looked like it would never come since fall 2022 places like Seville declared a state of drought emergency and went impose serious limitations on the use of water. Now, the Sevillian swamp of Gergal is “releasing water” and that of Melonares, one of the two most important, is over 80% of its capacity.
Another example of the positive impact of the Nelson storm is in the north of Córdoba (Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo), where the residents receiving the supply from the Boyera reservoir were left without water after the spring of 2023 dried up After eleven months without this precious liquid coming out of the taps, more than 80,000 Cordovans are closer to returning to normal after the swamp has reached almost 70% of its capacity and there is “water for four years ”, as reported by Moreno, who assured that, after taking the appropriate tests, you will be able to have water 24 hours a day.
However, the rains have not met the needs of all the places, and the Mediterranean basins, although more relieved, drag a significant deficit. In Málaga, for example, its most important reservoir, that of La Viñuela, has increased its reserve by 60%, although it remains at 15% of its capacity. In Almeria the situation is also complicated and will maintain the restrictions that were imposed previously.
Huelva, Seville and the north of Córdoba are the points where the storm Nelson has discharged the most water. So, the Guadalquivir basin, which was dying at 20% and just over a month ago the capacity was even lower, is at 43.28%, with 3,477.5 hm2 reservoirs out of the 8,034 it has in total capacity.
For its part, the Guadalete-Barbate basin is at 27.18%, with 449 hm3 of the 1,651 it has capacity. The data means almost six points more than a week ago, while the Andalusian Mediterranean basins are at 27.39%, since they have 315 hm3 of the 1,152 total capacity. The increase in one week is five percentage points.
Regarding the reservoirs of the Tinto, Odiel, Piedras and Chanza basins, the last data available – pending Monday’s update – is from March 27, when they were at 43%, although the figure will be significantly higher due to the rains that have been recorded in recent days.
All over Spain this Holy Week has been the rainiest in the last 24 years, and in some areas such as Catalonia it has been two years since a March with as much rain as this 2024.
