Summer 'Dries Up' Reservoirs: Now Below Half Capacity

Despite the rains currently hitting the eastern and northwestern parts of the peninsula, Spanish reservoirs continue to decline in level and are now at 49.5% of their total capacity. This marks the first time since January 23 that the national water reserve has fallen below 50%, illustrating the toll taken by summer due to the need for water for agricultural irrigation and tourist influxes.

In June, reservoirs were nearly at 66% capacity, but over the past three months, they have lost 9,400 cubic hectometers (hm³), with significant drops in August when nearly two thousand hm³ were lost in just the first two weeks. Since June, each week has seen more water leaving our reservoirs than entering them.

Currently, reservoirs store 27,732 hm³ of water, according to the bulletin published every Tuesday by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Miteco). Compared to their situation a week ago, they have decreased by 786 cubic hectometers, nearly 1.5 percentage points less (50.9%).

Nevertheless, the situation is considerably better than it was exactly a year ago when levels barely reached 37% of capacity. It is also slightly higher than the ten-year average: 48.5% compared to the current 49.5%, a one-point difference. This 'resilience' is largely due to a series of storms and generous rainfall recorded between February and May, which allowed levels to rise from 50% to 66%, gaining 8,400 cubic hectometers.

By river basin, the Atlantic basin holds three times more water volume than the Mediterranean basin, which suffers most during summer. It is at 75% compared to the Mediterranean's mere 25%.

Descending to individual river basins, here is the current situation: Eastern Cantabrian is at 78%; Western Cantabrian at 74.9%; Miño-Sil at 73.2%; Galicia Coast at 56.6%; internal basins of the Basque Country at 90.5%; Duero at 67%; Tajo at 59.8%; Tinto, Odiel and Piedras at 76%; and Ebro at 51.5%.

Below 50%, we find Júcar at 42%; Guadiana at 40.8%; Guadalquivir at 32.8%; internal basins of Catalonia at 30.9%; Andalusian Mediterranean Basin at 25.1%; Guadalete-Barbate at 22.2%; and Segura at 17.2%.

By autonomous communities, those with the worst records in their reservoirs are Murcia Region (20%); Valencian Community (30.5%); Andalusia (31%), La Rioja (37%); Cantabria (38%), Castilla-La Mancha (44%), and Navarra (48%).

Reservoirs in Catalonia, Aragon, and Extremadura are around half capacity. The rest of the peninsular communities exceed 60%, ranging from Castilla y León's 66% to the Basque Country's 76%.

Almería closes the provincial ranking of dry Spain with its reservoirs at just 8.5%, followed by Castellón (13.1%), Albacete (13.9%), and Málaga (18.5%), the only four provinces where reservoirs average below 20% capacity.