Some gardeners on the Costa face the chop due to the ban on irrigating green areas and gardens with drinking water

The drought situation in the south of Spain is creating doubts among residents on what is or is not allowed when watering gardens or maintaining swimming pools.

It comes after at least a dozen municipalities in Malaga moved to restrict their water consumption. According to the Junta de Andalucía, the use of drinking water from the municipal network for watering gardens, orchards, parks or green areas, both public and private, is prohibited.

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The Junta also stipulates that the irrigation of golf courses, the washing of streets, pavements, building facades or any other surface, both public and private, is also prohibited. People are also not allowed to use water from ornamental fountains that do not have a closed water circuit, public showers or pumps.

The only alternative is to resort to water tankers, and these companies are capitalising on the situation with waiting lists of up to 15, even 20 days, to be able to supply water to customers. "We can't keep up," they said. The price has also risen considerably. If last year it was around 120 euros for 12,000 litres, then this summer it is about 180 euros.

This dire situation is causing some gardeners in homeowners' associations in Malaga province to be laid off.

'Headaches and disruptions'

The College of Property Managers of Malaga said the situation is causing "many headaches and disruptions to communities." "Now we should be holding annual meetings to see how the accounts are and instead I've been talking about swimming pools and gardens for more than two weeks," Mercedes Gonzalez, the vice president of the Malaga association, which brings together more than a thousand professionals in the management of communities of owners in the province, told SUR.

In the case of Velez-Malaga, one of the municipalities most affected by restrictions, the operator of the water service, Aqualia, reported that it is reviewing all the meters that serve the areas of swimming pools and gardens of the communities of owners, ensuring that there is no consumption of more than five cubic metres in each bimonthly billing period.

With this amount it makes it difficult to keep green areas alive, since

these resources must also be used for toilets. The showers of the communal pools have been closed to comply with the decree, as pointed out by Mercedes Gonzalez. "With the issue of the toilets we have another problem, because according to the rules of swimming pools, which is regulated in a decree of 2019, it is mandatory that they are open so that the pool can be," she said.

The Malaga association has requested the Junta's Ministry of Health to relax this rule and allow the pools to be open even if the bathrooms are closed.