Jed Neill
ANDALUCIAN reservoir levels are 13% lower than last year.
New data released by the Ministry of Environment shows that this time last year the reserves were at 48% and now they are only 36%.
Córdoba has bore the brunt of an unusually hot summer and its reservoirs are the lowest in the region at 28%.
The Guadalquivir river basin – the life blood of Andalucia is at 31% of total capacity.
The river which runs through Seville has meant that the city has had the least change to the annual average with recorded levels of 48%.
Even the best stocked basin in Andalucia – the swamps of Huelva – have decreased considerably.
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What can you expect? There is no system of interlinked pipes to share water where it is needed. The massive increase in the growing of crops – mostly water-hungry mangoes and avocados – and all the new irrigation systems (legal and illegal) to feed them is also a major cause, as is the drilling of wells. Andalucia is banging the last nails into its coffin as the water table perishes. The answer? More crops, more irrigation, less water-sharing. Doh.