Drought in Málaga - Our drone video shows the extent

The La Viñuela reservoir in Axarquía (Province of Málaga) has reached a historic low at 7.73 %. Approximately 85,000 people in the area around Velez-Malaga depend on water from said reservoir. The water supply is turned off from 10:30 PM to 08:30 AM.

The annual measurement of rainfall is conducted from October 1st to September 30th. In 2022/2023, only 282.5 mm of rainfall were recorded at the La Viñuela measurement station. In the 2021/2022 period, 242.2 mm of rainfall were measured. Over the past 27 years of measurement, the annual average was 420.7 mm.

This means that the lack of rainfall over the past 2 years and the extensive avocado and mango cultivation have now led to this water scarcity. Compounding the issue is the absence of sewage treatment plants, making it impossible to irrigate the plantations with treated water.

For those who like to point out that there have always been dry periods, it's worth noting that there was only one phase with even less rain in 2004/2005 when only 220.2 mm of rainfall were measured.

By the way, the highest amount of rainfall occurred in 2009/2010 with 789 mm.

Contrary to Andalusian politicians who, regardless of their political affiliations, completely ignore climate change, we have been warning for years that weather extremes will increase. The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record, and autumn also set some new heat records.

It was interesting to observe that the recent storm systems brought only wind and no significant rain to the south. Notably, there is still no substantial rain in our current 10-day weather forecast for the province of Málaga.

Video: © meteo365.es - Registered drone pilot Salva F.