The Axarquía area of the province of Málaga has been suffering from a drought some time now with its main reservoir, La Viñuela, down to 26.4%3.

Local farmers with irrigated crops are allowed 3,000 cu./m. per hectare of land, which might sound like a lot, but farmers certainly don’t think so.

This water allowance represents a 23% cut back on the previous (hydrological) year. A hydrological year is also known as a ‘water year’ and runs from the 1st of October through to the 30th of September the following year.

Farmers who use an irrigation system belong to a comunidad de regantes and each collective receives notification every month on how much water they can use, given the number of hectares under cultivation.

There are luckier farmers numbering 2,500, who belong to the Junta Central de Usuarios del Sur del Guaro, which will receive 5.3 cu./hec. of extra water that comes from the sewage recycling plant in Vélez-Málaga. At the moment it is not available as an accord has yet to be signed. The said junta, or board, is working on receiving recycled water from Algarrobo and Torrox, too.

(News: Axarquia, Malaga, Andalucia)