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Date Published: 11/11/2021

ARCHIVED - State of emergency: drought in Guadalquivir basin could affect 4.3 million people in Andalusia

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A drought has been officially declared in the Andalucía river basin, which covers 554 towns

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - State of emergency: drought in Guadalquivir basin could affect 4.3 million people in Andalusia

The president of the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (CHG), Joaquín Páez, has declared a state of “exceptional situation due to extraordinary drought” in 80% of the Guadalquivir basin, which is at just 26.2% of its storage capacity. The river basin, which normally provides water for much of Andalucía and other surrounding autonomous communities, is facing a water shortage due to a lack of rainfall.

At a recent press conference, Mr Páez also reported that the CHG’s governing board has agreed to ask the Ministry of Ecological Transition to enact a royal decree law to alleviate the effects of the drought and explained that the situation in the basin is “worrying and complex”, although he assured that domestic supply of water is guaranteed for two years.

“Our obligation is to manage the reality of the basin in which 4.3 million people live in 554 municipalities and 890,000 hectares of irrigated land,” he continued.

This “exceptional declaration of drought” affects ten territorial units in the region, covering between them 80% of the total reserve. These areas affected by the emergency situation in the provinces of Seville, Córdoba, Jaén and Granada are:

Guadiamar
Hoya de Guadix
Dañador
Sierra Boyera
Rumblar
Guadalentín
Guardal
Guadalmellato
Bembézar-Retortillo
Cubillas-Colomera de la Vega Alta

The specific measures entailed by this emergency declaration include restrictions on industrial use of water, the rationing of 40,000 cubic metres of water reserves for in reservoirs and 10,000 cubic metres being reserved for emergency situations in order to avoid a loss of vulnerable crops.

Drier climate conditions are endangering water supplies

The Guadalquivir basin is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, and has been affected by a lack of rainfall for the last 25 years. Over this period, the basin has seen 17% less rainfall and there has been 20% less water being fed into the reservoirs in the last 40 years compared to the previous forty years.

Currently, 87% of water consumption in the basin corresponds to agricultural irrigation, 10% to domestic supply and 3% to industrial use, and farmers have had to deal with several reductions in irrigation allowances in recent years.

Image: Greenpeace

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