Farmers and livestock breeders in south of Spain face a critical autumn: this is the current state of water reserves in the Andalucía region

The drought is still very present and threatening the Andalusian countryside, which supports the agri-food sector, an important industry for the region's economy. Farmers and livestock breeders face a critical autumn if there is no rainfall in the coming months, to which must be added the slow progress of the pending water projects.

The lack of rain now means that Andalusian reservoirs, which continue to lose water through consumption and reserves are already below 30% at the start of autumn.

Andalucía has lost a quarter of its water reserves this summer, as the reservoirs began the summer season at 40.6% capacity and more than 4,700 cubic hectometres. However, they ended the season at 29.4%, with 3,550 cubic hectometres, 1,268 hectometres less than in June.

Andalucía has a network of reservoirs with the capacity to store up to 12,000 cubic hectometres. The region began the summer with a notable increase in water levels thanks to the copious rains in March and April. Reserves were doubled, giving a respite to agriculture and even tourism, facilitating the filling of swimming pools in provinces including Malaga. This improvement in the situation led the drought committees to ease restrictions on consumption and use for irrigation and industry.

The current volume of water in reservoirs at the start of autumn is worrying and is far from the average of the last ten years, when the reservoirs were at 42%. With this alarming panorama, the Junta de Andalucía has already sent out a message to the public to make efficient use of water and at the same time to demand greater involvement from the other administrations in tackling this serious problem.

Only the province of Huelva is saved from this critical situation, as the Tinto, Odiel and Piedras basin is the one in the best state, with reserves above 72%. The Huelva basin currently has 165 cubic hectometres and is the only Andalusian basin that exceeds the average for the last ten years, which is 153 cubic hectometres.

The most important Andalusian basin, the Guadalquivir, continues to lose water and its level has dropped to 30.7%, losing 52 cubic hectometres and now accumulating a total of 2,467, while the Mediterranean basin reduced its reserves by eight cubic hectometres to 274 cubic hectometres and 23.3%.

In this basin, the Guadalhorce reservoir in Malaga is the clearest example of the effects of the drought, having reached its historic minimum, already at 9.3 % with only 11.69 cubic hectometres. The Guadalete-Barbate reservoirs in Cadiz have lost six cubic hectometres of water, with 349 at present and at 21.1% of their capacity.

The Andalusian spokesperson for water and rural development, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, acknowledged the critical situation of the region's reservoirs and called for the updating of the water plans with the aim of designing the infrastructure that will be needed in the coming years to deal with the drought.

"We can do two things, wait for it to rain or get to work, and that is what the Andalusian government is doing," said Fernández-Pacheco, who highlighted the 1.5 billion euros made available through the four drought decrees and the 'Sequía Plus' (drought plus) strategy.

Andalucía is now making progress with central government on the transfer of water from Portugal to Huelva and on unblocking the Alcolea dam, as well as speeding up the promotion of new desalination plants in Malaga and Almeria provinces to alleviate the drought.