Abundance of rain in Spain leads to significant increases in water reservoirs

After a rainy Semana Santa and Easter weekend, Spain has seen a significant increase in the water capacity of reservoirs. The data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica) show that reservoirs are currently 63% full, an increase of more than 5% compared to a week earlier. This is the largest increase of the year and even the largest increase in more than a year. The abundant rainfall has had positive effects not only at the national level, but also in regions such as Andalusia and Catalonia, where the drought was most felt.

National water reserves in Spain have increased to 35,375 hectometers cubic meters, a level corresponding to the average of the same week in the past decade (35,526 hectometers cubic meters). It is notable that the current reserve is 12% higher than the same period last year, when the drought was worse and reserve levels were only 51.5% with 28,889 hectometers cubic meters of water.

Although rainfall was generally abundant, there were regional variations. Areas in it south of the Spanish mainland, the center, Galicia and the Pyrenees received more than 100 liters per square meter, which is more than three times the normal level for that period. The exceptions were the eastern part of the peninsula, the Cantabrian coast and the south of the Canary Islands.

The abundant rainfall has led to a significant increase in water capacity in Spanish reservoirs. In some basins the increase was more than 1000 hectometers cubic meters in just one week. It Guadalquivir Basin (Andalusia), for example, increased from 30% to almost 43%, which amounts to an increase of more than 1000 hectometers cubic meters.

A remarkable development was the improvement of the situation Catalonia, where the reservoirs were previously in an emergency situation. The reserve levels rose to 16.4%, allowing the region to emerge from emergency. Nevertheless, restrictions on water use will remain in place as levels could drop again quickly.

Also in Andalusia the situation has improved after the rainfall during storm Nelson, but according to the regional premier That doesn’t mean the misery is completely over. The use of ships to supply water is now ruled out, but the situation in the reservoirs could worsen during the summer months. On average, the reservoirs in Andalusia are now 40% full with 4,800 hectometers cubic meters of the total capacity of 12,000 hm³. The lowest level is in the province of Almería, followed by the provinces of Málaga, Granada and Córdoba.