Junta's drought committee meets today to discuss Malaga reservoir levels

The Junta de Andalucía's drought committee meeting this Monday, 6 October, is being held in a much more favourable context this year. With promising forecasts, it marks the start of the 2025/26 hydrological year and the end of the previous one. This year, Malaga province has three times the water reserves it had last year. Surface reserves amount to 292 million cubic metres, 47% of the total capacity. A year ago, they barely contained 98. Fortunately, successive episodes of heavy rainfall and storms turned the situation around.

The committee is due to analyse the current situation and determine usage prices. What is known is that there will be no restrictions on water supply and the Costa del Sol will continue with 100% of the allocation - 250 litres per inhabitant per day. The Guadalhorce system, which supplies Malaga city, will continue with 225, which easily covers all needs. The same applies to the Axarquia district, which, in this case, is at 90% of the allocated volumes in a normal situation.

The province starts the year in a normal phase, Malaga and the Guadalhorce in pre-alert and the Axarquia in alert. However, none of these phases has practical repercussions, as SUR reported on 1 September.

The reservoir that stores the most water is the Guadalteba, with over 80 million cubic metres, followed by the Viñuela, with 70 million cubic metres, the Guadalhorce, with 46, and the Concepción, with 38. Then comes the Conde de Guadalhorce, with 32, and Casasola and Limonero, with 12 each.

As for the prices of usage, reservoir fees and water use tax for the next hydrological year, the committee has to resolve allegations and publish the final assessment in the official gazette of the regional government (BOJA) in December. To begin with, the costs for users (irrigators and water operators) remain stable, even slightly lower, but experience notable increases in the Axarquia.

Reservoir fees apply to those who benefit from surface or groundwater regulation works that have been financed wholly or partly by the central government. These fees act as a compensatory levy, helping to offset the costs of the investment borne by the State and to cover the operation and maintenance of the associated infrastructure.

The water use tariff (Tua) is the fee charged to users of hydraulic works other than regulation works, which have also been financed wholly or partly by the State. This fee is paid for the right to access and use the water provided by these works.

On the western Costa del Sol, the combined total of both fees will fall by 3.51% in 2026, amounting to just over 67 euros per 1,000 cubic metres (one million litres).

In the Guadalhorce, the supply fee drops by 2.57%, reaching 77.38 euros per 1,000 cubic metres. For irrigation, it rises by 0.51%, to 30 euros per 1,000 cubic metres in a normal year. If restrictions are necessary, the fee would drop by 20%, reaching 107 euros per 1,000 cubic metres.

Casasola-Limonero will reach 80 euros per 1,000 cubic metres - a drop of 4% compared to 2025.

In La Viñuela, the irrigation fee is up 18.37%, with 64 euros, and the supply fee is up 19% (200.22 euros).