Another town added to list of Costa del Sol municipalities affected by nighttime water cuts

Rincón de la Victoria has become the latest Costa del Sol town to introduce nighttime water cuts. The drastic measure will be brought in from the early hours of Saturday 25 November. Public water company Hidralia announced on Wednesday 22 November that interruptions in the supply will take place from midnight to 6am and until further notice.

Rincón de la Victoria joins many other municipalities in Malaga province that have been experiencing water cuts for months: Almogía, Villanueva de la Concepción, Casabermeja, Valle de Abdalajís, Almáchar, Benamargosa, El Borge, Iznate, Moclinejo, Periana, Sedella, Vélez-Málaga and Torrox.

The Junta de Andalucía has been carrying out emergency works to connect the Peñón del Cuervo wastewater treatment plant with the Rincón de la Victoria with the aim of bringing more water to the Axarquía from Malaga city to provide additional water resources to the area, which has been severely affected by the drought.

“The situation is extreme. We are consuming more water than we are getting and the cuts are necessary, obligatory. With the measures we have been taking we have managed to reduce water consumption in recent months and avoid cuts, but it is no longer enough," explained Rincón’s mayor, Francisco Salado.

He went on to say, "Nighttime cuts are the lesser evil for Rincón de la Victoria because if we do not manage to reduce water consumption, the cuts will be more extensive and we will not be able to ensure supply during the day". Rincón de la Victoria has been implementing measures to reduce consumption since June, with a ban on the use of drinking water for watering gardens and cleaning buildings and vehicles as well as filling swimming pools. Beach showers and foot baths were also cut off in summer and public fountains have also been turned off.

As of 2 November, and in compliance with the Andalusian regional government’s latest decree issued on 24 October 2023, the situation of exceptional drought in the Viñuela-Axarquia System remains in place and new water distribution measures were adopted which imply a 24.4 per cent reduction in consumption for Rincón de la Victoria, compared to the same month last year. This means having an average allocation of 140 litres per inhabitant per day, "an allocation that is well below the current 170 litres per inhabitant per day. This is what has led us to introduce nighttime cuts," Hidralia explained.

The lack of water resources and the alarming lack of rainfall is affecting all of Andalucía. In the Andalusian Mediterranean basins as a whole, which include the seven reservoirs in Malaga province, the water in the reservoirs has decreased over the last seven days by five cubic hectometres (-0.43%) and the reservoirs are, on average, at 21.06% of their total capacity. La Viñuela is at 7.63%.

Salado highlighted the importance of conscientious water use with small “everyday gestures” that help reduce consumption, including showering instead of taking baths, checking that the taps in the house are properly turned off, fixing leaks and switching to water saving programmes on household appliances. He also stressed the ban on watering gardens with drinking water.