Drought is not over despite the 'Dana' downpours warns Junta de Andalucía

Although the images of the last few days might lead one to believe otherwise, the Andalucía region has not yet kissed goodbye to the serious drought situation it has been experiencing for a good while now. This word of warning was issued on Thursday during a parliamentary session of the regional government by agriculture minister Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, whose department is also responsible for water.

"Despite the heavy rains that have fallen in Andalucía, it is still too early to know what consequences they have had on the reservoirs," said Fernández-Pacheco. He went on to point out that so far Andalucía's reservoirs stand at 34% of their capacity, a figure far below what they should be offering at this point in the hydrological year. "It would be tremendously irresponsible to make people believe that the drought has gone," he warned parliament.

Fernández-Pacheco intervened to respond to an interjection from the Vox parliamentary group on how the engineering work for the region's water supply networks was coming along, a question that was described by the minister as opportunistic considering the circumstances that Malaga and other Andalusian provinces have suffered in recent days.

After Vox representative Rodrigo Alonso denied a direct link between climate change and the 'Dana' weather events that first fell on Valencia and then on eastern Andalucía in recent days, the minister made clear the Junta's position on this matter as being as far removed from Vox's viewpoint as possible. He also said he believes that the vast majority of people are aware that climate change is causing disastrous consequences in Andalucía, from the drought to the unprecedented high temperatures suffered in summer and the meteorological phenomena that have so recently been hitting the entire Mediterranean coastline. "It is not part of anyone's political ideology," said Fernández-Pacheco, "it is science." The minister gave assurances that the Junta is working to mitigate these consequences in Andalucía.

In relation to the actions that need to be carried out to tackle the water issue, Fernández-Pacheco advocated collaboration between the governing bodies at all levels and pointed out that, in this area too, the Junta's governing party (PP) and Vox maintain significantly different positions.

In addition to giving an update on the flood-risk maps, the minister highlighted that the regional government has earmarked 50 million euros for the clearing and clear-up of riverbeds. There are 600 environmentally-related actions already undertaken to restore and adapt riverbeds.

In engineering matters, there are currently 141 projects completed, several hundred underway and 51 in the tendering process, according to the minister.