Nine of the 16 groundwater sectors into which the Doñana National Park aquifer is subdivided are in a state of alarm, the highest number since there are records. Santa Olalla, the largest permanent lagoon in Doñana, has completely dried up for the second consecutive year, something that had not happened since the Doñana Biological Station has records, as indicated by the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC).
The lack of rainfall and the overexploitation of aquifers and surface waters make it clear that “Doñana is approaching a point of no return”, according to the WWF assessment after analyzing the most recent data from the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (CHG). ).
The groundwater level of the 16 sectors into which the CHG subdivides the aquifer are all in a highly worrying situation and, for the first time since there are records, nine of them have entered a state of alarm. For this reason, WWF “demands immediate and extraordinary measures from the Government and the Junta de Andalucía to put an end to overexploitation and theft of water.”
The alarm situation has been repeated this hydrological year 2022-2023 and, if the rains in September do not remedy it, it will once again be a very dry year, which has caused the largest permanent lagoon in Doñana, Santa Olalla, to collapse this summer. has run out of water again for the second consecutive summer for the first time in history reiterates the conservation entity.
The low rainfall – the 2021/2022 hydrological cycle has been the driest in the last 11 years – and the heat suffered – which has raised the average annual temperature to 18.5 degrees at the Palacio de Doñana weather station, the highest in those registered – affect the current bad state of the aquifer but, “these are not the main causes of Doñana being in an agonizing situation”.
The report from the Hydrographic Confederation analyzed by WWF Spain “clearly and conclusively confirms that the overexploitation of the aquifer due to intensive agriculture and the theft of water have pushed Doñana to the brink of collapse”, indicates this entity.
The ‘Report on the status of the aquifers around Doñana. Hydrological year 2021-2022’, has been prepared by the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (CHG) and the last of a historical series that began with the 2014-15 hydrological year.
