Water cuts in Costa del Sol town ramped up by another two hours and extended to more areas

The more than 85,000 inhabitants of Vélez-Málaga on the eastern stretch of the Costa del Sol have been living with daily water cuts since 30 June 2023 due to the extreme drought that has been plaguing Malaga province for five years.

The restrictions have changed in times and areas, but have never been less than seven hours a day. However, after the summer months during which the cuts ran from midnight to 7am, since Wednesday 18 September the situation has become considerably more complicated. And it could get worse in a few weeks if it doesn't rain heavily.

The water restrictions, for the moment, have been extended to nine hours a day, from 10.30pm to 7.30am and have been extended to practically the entire municipality, whereas until now they were concentrated in Vélez-Málaga, Torre del Mar and a few rural areas including La Dehesa, Las Chozas, La Crujía and Aldea Alta. In the latter areas, the cut in recent months has been from 10pm to 7am.

However, according to Vélez-Málaga town hall and the public water company Aqualia, since last Wednesday the cuts have reached Vélez-Málaga, Torre del Mar, Caleta de Vélez and the western area of the municipality, that is, Almayate, Valle-Niza, Benajarafe and Chilches. However, the cuts and areas affected change weekly and the announcements are made on the town hall and Aqualia social media pages.

During summer there were numerous complaints because the cut-off times were not accurate, and residents complained that the hours were longer. The town hall repeats in its messages apologising "for the inconvenience of this measure" and that it will "work to cause as little inconvenience as possible to users, hoping that the situation will improve very soon".

Residents are critical of the water cuts and especially the lack of restrictions during the summer months. "Now the tourists have gone the residents have to recover the wasted water," writes Pamela Sánchez, while Juan Sánchez writes: "In the summer season nobody complained while they authorised the filling of pools that had been repaired during the winter season." Mari Carmen García complains that "you can't turn off the water at 10.30pm. There are those who arrive home from their studies or work at around 11pm. Like in my house, it's been like this all week. It's unbelievable! In all the houses there are no tanks or cisterns. Shameful."

Sources from the bipartite team in power, the Partido Popular (PP) and Independent Torre del Mar group (GIPMTM), have admitted to SUR that the situation "is difficult and complicated" and that the outlook for the coming weeks "is not at all promising unless there is abundant rainfall very soon, so that the water cuts could soon increase". However, they have pointed out that with a view to the Real Feria de San Miguel de Vélez-Málaga, which runs from 24 to 29 September, they are going to try to reduce the restrictions in the centre of Vélez-Málaga.

Before the end of September it is expected that the Andalusian regional government, as the administration exclusively responsible for water in the Andalusian Mediterranean basin, will convene a new meeting of the drought management committee to address the situation across Malaga province. At the last meeting it was agreed that the maximum daily consumption in the Axarquía, Malaga city and the Guadalhorce would be 200 litres per inhabitant per day and 225 on the western Costa del Sol.