Drought crisis
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Eugenio Cabezas
Malaga
Friday, 14 July 2023
The persistent drought is keeping many municipalities in Malaga province on the ropes, especially in the Axarquía. Water restrictions, including some nighttime cuts, ordered by the Junta on towns and villages aim to save 20 per cent of usage in the eastern part of the province and ten per cent in the rest and in Malaga city. This is to try to ensure the supply to at least until 30 September, when the current hydrological year ends and the long-awaited rains are expected to arrive.
Nighttime cuts are already happening in Vélez-Málaga and in at least five other villages in the Axarquía. In neighbouring Casabermeja, too, water cuts are being made, even during the day, with only five or six hours of water per day available to households. This situation and the successive municipal decrees issued by the towns to restrict the use of drinking water to the maximum possible has generated great uncertainty as to what can or cannot be done with communal and private swimming pools.
In principle, all the rules are identical and make it clear that pools do not have to be closed. But filling or refilling them with water directly from the municipal networks is prohibited. Faced with this situation, the only alternative is to use water tankers. But it is here that a first problem arises, which is causing numerous headaches for property administrators. The Junta's regulations governing communal swimming pools establish that the water cannot be poured directly into the pool, but must first pass through a filtering system.
Technically, virtually all swimming pools are not prepared to comply with this requirement, so there are communities of owners who have decided to close the pool. They have also done so because they do not have enough money for the water tanks, the price of which has rocketed to around 180 euros for 12,000 litres. In addition, these companies have a waiting list of up to 15 days.
President of the Malaga Association of Property Administrators, Manuel Jiménez, has slammed "the incongruity" that this situation is causing. "We have asked the Health department to relax the rules on water purification, as happened with the Covid-19 crisis, when the pools were closed, and in many cases we are recommending to our members to close the facility for a few hours to ensure that the water that is poured into the pool is filtered before reopening it," he said.
According to Jiménez, this situation is generating "numerous conflicts and a big mess" in many communities of owners in Malaga province, "as the local resident is more aware of saving water, but the one who comes on holiday to spend a few days does not want to have the pool closed".
In municipalities such as Vélez-Málaga, the water concessionaire, Aqualia, is acting to review the community swimming pools in which they have detected high usage after the entry into force of the municipal decree signed by the mayor, Jesús Lupiáñez, on 30 July.
Although the Association of Property Administrators has claimed that meters were sealed to prevent water from the municipal network being used in swimming pools, showers and toilets in Vélez-Málaga, the manager of Aqualia in the capital of La Axarquía, Javier Portero, has told SUR that this situation has not happened. He did admit that they could have been sealed if high water consumption was detected. "In general the measures are working and it is being detected that consumption is being reduced," Portero said.
The closure of the toilets in community swimming pools due to the lack of drinking water is another problem that the administrators of properties have warned about, as according to health regulations, this service must be available for a swimming pool to remain open. "In the end, what is happening is that neither the Junta nor the town halls dare to order the closure of community pools, and they pass the buck to the administrators of properties," complained Jiménez.
In other municipalities such as Rincón de la Victoria there have already been several cases of swimming pools that have been closed "due to limitations on the use of drinking water". Municipal sources have explained to SUR that the town hall and the concessionary company, Hidralia, have met with the Association of Property Administrators to pass on the information contained in the municipal notice and remind them of the prohibition on filling and refilling swimming pools with water from the drinking water network. The closure of community pools is also leading to the dismissal of the first lifeguards in the residential developments.
In Malaga province there are 77,330 open air swimming pools and another 513 covered ones. Counting only the former, there are 300,754 in Andalucía, which means an average of one for every 28 inhabitants, below the national average (37), and Cordoba stands out as one of the municipalities in Spain with the most swimming pools. Of the 100 municipalities with the most swimming pools in Spain, 20 are Andalusian, and of these, nine are in Malaga province. In absolute terms, Marbella is the town with the most swimming pools, with 10,662 in total, one for every 14 inhabitants; but if the ratio is taken into account, there are towns in which there is one swimming pool for every three or four residents.
In Spain there are more than 1,266,000 swimming pools, which means an average of one for every 37 inhabitants, which is exceeded in territories such as the Balearic Islands (one for every 17) and the Valencian region(21), where there are municipalities with ratios of one for every three registered residents. The three Spanish municipalities with the most swimming pools are Madrid, with 13,842, which is only one for every 238 inhabitants; Cordoba, with 11,538, one for every 28; and Marbella, with 10,662, one for every 14. Also in the top ten is Mijas, which has 8,113. Málaga city has 5,886 pools, Alhaurín de la Torre has 4,835 and Estepona, 4,225.
It happens that the largest municipalities, the most populated, are the ones with the highest number of swimming pools. However, in relation to their population, the figures for small towns, usually inland, is striking. Árchez has 119 swimming pools for 398 inhabitants, i.e. one for every three people. A similar number is calculated in Arenas, where with 1,181 inhabitants and 423 pools the ratio is one for every 2.7.
The neighbouring municipalities of Canillas de Albaida and Cómpeta, all in the Axarquía region, are not far behind either. They have four swimming pools for every four inhabitants. Canillas de Albaida has 210 with a population of 811 people; while Cómpeta has 973 for 3,866 inhabitants.
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