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MALAGA’s reservoirs began releasing water as a result of recent storms.
The Conde de Guadalhorce reservoir has now exceeded 90% of its capacity and has joined La Concepción in releasing water, a bittersweet development following years of severe drought conditions that have plagued the region.
The relentless rains have now filled the province’s reservoirs to a miraculous 250 million-litre milestone of stored water – around 40% capacity – forcing reservoir managers to begin controlled water releases at multiple dams.
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The La Concepción reservoir, located between Marbella and Istan, began releasing water on Friday afternoon when it approached 48 million litres, or 82% capacity, with more rainfall forecast and water continuing to flow in from its tributaries.
At its peak, La Concepcion released around 60 cubic metres of precious water per second – equivalent to four times the amount needed to supply the entire city of Malaga.
Although the release rate fluctuated, sometimes dropping as low as 15 cubic metres per seconds yesterday evening, the controlled discharge has always been closely monitored to prevent downstream incident.
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Despite the abundance of water now flowing through the province’s waterways, technical limitations prevent the transfer of excess water from La Concepcion to Malaga city or the drought-stricken Axarquía region.
There are a number of limitations, including the inadequacy of high-capacity water pipelines and the inadequate capacity at the Verde Water Treatment Plant.
This is despite Junta’s recent expansion of the Rojas bypass, in Churriana. It can transfer drinking water in both directions at up to 500 L/s.
By midday, 248 million litres were stored in the province’s reservoirs. This is a substantial increase compared to yesterday, when 237 millions litres were held.
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The distribution of rainfall has become increasingly widespread across the province, reaching previously lagging reservoirs including Guadalhorce, Guadalteba, and La Viñuela in Axarquía.
Particularly encouraging news comes from La Viñuela, the province’s largest reservoir with a capacity of 164 million litres, which now holds 45 million litres (27.5%) and continues to rise with free-flowing runoff.
Guadalteba (the province’s second largest reservoir) has now exceeded 43 million litres by 28 percent, while the Guadalhorce Reservoir has reached about 25 million litres by 20 percent.
The current total is over double the 104 millions litres of water recorded exactly one-year ago, on March 10, 2020.
All of this means that, in only one week, the water reserve has increased by 70 million litres (39%).
After similar rain episodes in March of 2023 and 2022, the water situation for the province is better now than it was then.
It is still less than the historical benchmark for March 2021. At that time, reservoirs held 366 million litres.
Heavy rain is expected to continue into the next week. Some areas, especially in the west zone, recorded rainfall of more than 70mm overnight and early Monday morning.
Aemet reports that a heavy downpour with hail and thunderstorms hit Malaga’s capital around midnight. The road between Azucarera and Intelhorce was inundated by 21mm of rain in just a few minutes.
The highest rainfall accumulations in recent hours have been recorded in Ojén (76mm), the Marbella treatment plant (75mm), and La Concepción reservoir (63mm).
The yellow alert is still active. A total of 40mm of precipitation could be expected in a 12-hour period as the weather system continues to affect this region.
