Eastern Costa del Sol town ends nighttime cuts to water supply

Vélez-Málaga town hall and public water company Aqualia have incorporated leak detection equipment and pressure valves to optimise the functioning of the pipes

Eugenio Cabezas

Vélez-Málaga

Wednesday, 1 January 2025 | Updated 02/01/2025 15:23h.

After a year and a half of nightly water cuts, which started on 30 June 2023, the 86,000 inhabitants of Vélez-Málaga on the eastern Costa del Sol are no longer be subjected to these interruptions as of Monday 23 December. This is thanks to the heavy rainfall in autumn and the increase in the maximum allocation per inhabitant authorised by the Junta de Andalucía after the last drought management committee, going from 180 to 200 litres.

As such residents of the 11 towns and villages that make up the extensive municipal district of Vélez-Málaga in the Axarquía no longer have to worry about being left without water supply in their homes. The night-time cuts have been varying in duration over the last 18 months, but in September they were fixed between 10pm and 7.30am.

However, despite the improvement in the situation, town hall has appealed to the population to continue with “moderate water consumption”, while stressing that they are still working to repair the leaks in the municipal supply networks, which are around 28% of the quantities supplied by public water company Axaragua, which forms part of the Mancomunidad association of town halls in the Axarquía.

For the moment

Councillor for water and infrastructure, Jesus Maria Claros said in statements to Cadena Ser radio in the Axarquía that important investments have been made in the acquisition of equipment with air pressure and sound systems, to detect leaks in the municipal pipes.

Aqualia manager Javier Portero told SUR that the nighttime cuts have been suspended “for the moment” but that it has not yet been decided whether they will have to be resumed in the coming weeks, depending on how the population's consumption levels and the reserves in the area’s La Viñuela reservoir are. He added that it would also depend on further significant rainfall in the winter and spring, before the start of summer 2025.

Portero also called for “responsible water consumption” as the drought is not over and the water reserves of La Viñuela are still only at 22 per cent of its capacity, with almost 36 cubic hectometres. That is three times more than a year ago.

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