The Mayor of Periana, Rafael Torrubia (PSOE), has asked the 3,100 residents of that town not to drink the tap water, as it is completely murky.

The reason is that one of the two springs that feed the town’s storage tanks has virtually run dry so the pumps are sucking up mud from the bottom. However, although people can’t drink it, it is safe for cooking, for example.

He has also asked residents not to waste water on watering plants, cleaning streets or washing cars. The elderly generation of Spaniards living in villages wash down the street immediately outside their front door.

Other villages are worse hit; Comares, for example, has had no water coming out of their taps since the end of August and has to rely on bowsers bringing water in.

The solution is for the large pump that used to provide water for farm irrigation (which has long been stopped) will be lifted from its present depth of 140 metres to 110 metres in order to avoid sucking up muddy water, so that it can be used for domestic use.

«Nobody in the village remembers a situation like this; even the drought of 2008 wasn’t this bad,” said the Mayor.

However, about a third of the population receives its water from another spring (El Batán) which flows as strongly as ever. These more fortunate inhabitants reside in the municipal dependencies of Mondrón, Los Marines, Vilo and Los Parrales.

“We’re going to install a pipe to bring some of the water from that spring to the village centre,” said Mayor Torrubia, adding that the majority of farmers have secano crops (non-irrigated land) but about 15 farmers opted to plant avocados and they’re having a very hard time of it. He said that back in 2008 all of the farms growing peaches were lost but olive trees resist droughts much better.

(News: Periana, Axarquia, Malaga, Andalucia – Original story: E. Cabezas/Sur)