Date Published: 09/04/2024

Murcia extraordinary drought situation could be lifted in May

Although there has been an improvement in water reserves thanks to recent rains, the CHS is not ready to lift the drought measures just yet

The Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura (CHS), the water authority that manages the area mostly corresponding to the Region of Murcia, has decided to maintain the extraordinary drought situation for another month but is confident that it could be removed from the beginning of May.

A situation of extraordinary drought was declared for the Segura basin on March 11, and, despite recent rains helping to top up water supplies in reservoirs somewhat, the CHS has confirmed that the basin remains in a situation of alert.

Specifically, the Segura River itself (excluding the Tagus-Segura interbasin transfer), will be downgraded from a state of emergency to a state of alert. Although there has been significant improvement, the CHS is preferring to err on the side of caution and maintain the measures of the ‘extraordinary drought’, which include the use of water from the Calasparra Syncline ground wells and cuts of 25% for farmers watering their crops.

The rain in Murcia during Semana Santa topped the reservoirs up so that, in total, they now hold 278 hectometres squared (hm3), which represents more than 24% of the reservoir capacity in the Segura basin area. This improvement is 6% than two months ago.

The Permanent Drought Commission of the Segura basin will meet at the end of April to analyse the hydrological situation and decide whether the situation is safe enough to remove the extraordinary drought measures.

Image: CHS

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