The marshes of Malaga at their lowest level three years

The marshes of Malaga at their lowest level three years

The marshes of Malaga at their lowest level three years. Image: Facebook

The marshes of Malaga at their lowest level in three years.
 
As summer aproaches, the marshes of Malaga are at their lowest level three years.  According to data gathered by the Hidrosur Network yesterday, Malaga’s seven reservoirs currently hold 352.6 cubic hectometres, down nearly 79 from a year ago when they held 431. They have achieved 57 percent of the total capacity between them. This is enough reserves to ensure supply for about three years, based on a general estimate of 114 cubic hectometres distributed annually throughout the province.
According to the standardised precipitation index (SPI) collected by the Hidrosur Network, the situation is one of an exceptionally dry year. In reality, the amount of water stored in the province’s reservoirs is at its lowest level since 2017. Water supplies had barely crossed 304 cubic hectometres in June of that year. They had 419 cubic hectometres on the same date a year later, while they had about 372 and 431 cubic hectometres in 2019 and 2020.
In terms of 2020, both of the reservoirs have reduced their stocks, with the Guadalhorce losing half of what it had a year earlier, after going from just over 100 cubic hectometres to less than 55.
The worst condition remains at the La Viuela reservoir in La Axarqua. It is the province’s largest and most empty, with 52.97 cubic hectometres, or 14 hectometres less, at 32 percent of its size. The Guadalteba has suffered the least in the last year, with 118.88 cubic hectometres, almost the same as a year earlier, and a 77.5 percent recovery rate.
According to José Damián Ruiz Sinoga, a professor of Physical Geography at the UMA, Malaga is in no worse condition than at other times to face the summer, “in the hope of a recharge immediately afterwards, in the autumn months.”  If not, he warns, “we would have to start talking about drought or a dry spell and then we would have a problem”.
As reported by Malaga Hoy

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Natasha Brewer

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