Junta pins hopes on autumn rain to avoid more drought restrictions in Malaga and on the Costa del Sol

Due to forecasts from the Spanish Met Office (Aemet) for a wet autumn the Junta de Andalucía regional government is confident that it can avoid having to increase the restrictions on water consumption that were put in place at the last drought management committee meeting.

The regional minister responsible, Carmen Crespo, said the next drought committee will be postponed until October. Following that meeting a decision will be made on any new restrictions, Crespo said in an interview with journalists after inaugurating the pumping station for wastewater from the treatment plant in Rincón de la Victoria, which will provide another 3.3 cubic hectometres for irrigation in the Axarquía region.

"We will talk to the town councils, the irrigators and all those involved, in order to take the decisions unanimously," Crespo said. "We hope that it will be a wet autumn, because we have already had five years of drought," she added.

Regarding the Axarquía desalination plant, the regional minister said that the Junta is looking for a plot in Vélez-Málaga for its location, with a capacity of up to 50 cubic hectometres. This 120-million-euro project will be financed by the central government. Crespo did not specify its timeframe except to note that "soon" there will be a new meeting of the working group set up by the Junta and the government.

She disclosed that the tender will be made by the state, due to the work being declared part of the National Hydrological Plan. Crespo said that the public company Acuamed will build the desalination plant which will be publicly managed and "accessible to users, with a price of 45 cents per cubic metre".

On Thursday the reservoirs of Malaga province were at 21.8% of their capacity, with just 133 cubic hectometres, compared to 244 a year ago.