Cristina Hodgson
THE prolonged hot weather has not only placed Spain on track for the hottest summer in recorded history, but is also triggering historic lows in water reserves across the country.
The dry heat and lack of rainfall is seeing the drought situation in Spain reaching crisis point as the summer heat takes its toll.
According to government sources, the overall Spanish water reserve is in dire straits, standing at 36.9% of its total capacity, with only 20,702 cubic hectometres (hm³) of water in storage.
Of utmost concern is perhaps the water reserves in the main Andalucian basin which currently has only 1,829 cubic hectometres of water in storage, while its capacity is 8,113 hectometres.
Furthermore, the rest of the Andalucian basins continue to lose reserves: the Guadiana basin is at 24.9%, the Guadalete-Barbate at 25.7%, the Andalucian Mediterranean at 42.8% and the Tinto, Odiel and Piedras at 67.7%.
In Spain as a whole, reserves have been reduced in the last week by 589 cubic hectometres (1 % of the current total capacity of the reservoirs).
The national water reserves last year, 2021, were at 47% capacity, and the average for the last 10 years has hovered at 58.6%, 21.7% more than current levels.
READ MORE:
- Reservoirs in Spain’s Andalucia stand at an unsettling 28.33%
- WATCH: Drought reveals Spain’s own Stonehenge hidden below water level in Extremadura reservoir
