This is the Malaga province town which has running water for only six hours a day

The drought crisis in Malaga province is forcing municipalities to implement restrictions on water supply earlier than planned. In the case of the inland town of Casabermeja - some 20 kilometres north of Malaga city - it has been cutting off water at night for a month and a half, but a fortnight ago this measure became more severe.

The 4,000 inhabitants now only have water from eight in the morning until midday, as at around 1.30 or 2pm the water is cut off in the residential devlopments and half an hour later in the centre of the town. Each day, the Casabermeja town hall informs residents of the exact time of the cut-off, depending on the amount of water they have consumed during the day.

The mayor of the town, Antonio Artacho, explained to SUR that the water available to them in summer comes from two wells shared with Colmenar. The daily capacity of these is currently 900 cubic metres a day, which means 450 for Casabermeja and the other 450 for Colmenar. "This water is insufficient, unlike in winter, which can provide a total of 1,300 cubic metres for the two villages. If this were to happen now, it would be an important improvement," Artacho said.

To increase the supply capacity, they have been forced to resort to water tankers. On Tuesday 11 July, four of them arrived in the village with a capacity of 25,000 litres each, so the town has had 100,000 litres more than it has been used to in recent weeks. However, despite this increase in water, it is still not enough, according to Artacho.

Today (Wednesday 12 July), the mayor will meet with the Environmental department with plans to sink a well in the Sierra de las Cabras, in the municipality of Antequera, as long as it does not affect any other municipality. In addition to this, the town council has two active works under way to obtain new water supplies. The first of these is a reservoir that will not provide water until August and the second will be a new borehole located in Puerto de Las Pedrizas, where they will install a pipe to the spring that supplies them. "We are still missing the 800 metre pipeline to our spring, works we hope to have [completed] soon because it would solve the water problem," the mayor said. Artacho said that, with the planned work, they will be able to extend the current supply schedule to the town's inhabitants.