With rain expected this week, this is the current state of all reservoirs in Malaga province

All the reservoirs in Malaga province combined are currently at a total of 33.24% capacity, a figure that fails to stop falling due to the drought that affects all of Spain.

With reserves low, the Malaga countryside is especially looking forward to the arrival of rain that will come this week in the form of a pocket of cold air in the middle layers of the atmosphere that will give rise to a ‘Dana’ bringing showers and storms.

Although the Dana will arrive in Andalucía today (Wednesday, 17 May), in Malaga the skies will be cloudy and temperatures will drop significantly, but it will not be until Thursday when the first rainfall is expected, as explained by Jesús Riesco, the head of state weather agency Aemet in Malaga.

"Instability will be present throughout the province", both inland and on the coast, and it will be Thursday and Friday when the rain will be most likely. However, the probability of showers "will continue throughout the weekend and early next week," he said.

The first forecasts of the European weather model speak of 10-20mm with the arrival of the Dana. This amount "is not bad", Riesco pointed out, although it is not sufficient to alleviate the drought, he does hope that it can bring a change to the situation of the Malaga reservoirs, which is becoming critical.

In fact, today, according to the data published by the Hidrosur Network, the Malaga reservoirs are at 33.24% of their capacity, with 203.28 cubic hectometres of stored water.

La Viñuela reservoir, the one with the largest capacity in the province (164.37 hm3), is the one in the worst situation, below 10%, at 9.67 and 15.9 cubic hectometres, when last year it held 27.78 cubic hectometres, almost double.

In the Guadalhorce area, the Conde del Guadalhorce reservoir is at 25.87% of its capacity, storing 17.20 cubic hectometres. A year ago, it was almost at 100% capacity (66.49 hm3), with 65.27 cubic hectometres. The Guadalhorce, is at 31.75% with 39.92 hm3, ten fewer than last year. And the Guadalteba reservoir is at 47.57% capacity with about 30 cubic hectometres fewer than in 2022.

The Limonero and Casasola reservoirs are in almost the same situation this Wednesday, at 33.57 and 36.46% capacity, respectively. Both currently store just over seven cubic hectometres (7.5 and 7.92), when last year they were around 12 hm3 (11.83 and 12.8).

In Malaga, only the La Concepción reservoir is over half its volume. At 72.85% capacity, it houses 41.92 cubic hectometres of water, although on the same date in 2022 it had 59.85 hm3.