Water reserves fell below the 40 percent mark this week, totaling 693 cubic hectometers. Data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge shows this value represents 1.2 percent of the national total, equating to reservoirs holding 21,730 cubic meters, or 39.2 percent of their full capacity.
At present, reservoir storage sits 10,969 cubic hectometers under the long-term decade average, a shortfall of 33.54 percent and 17.34 percent compared with the same date last year, when storage was 4,558 cubic hectometers higher.
To find a week this weak in recent memory, one would have to travel back to 1995, 27 years ago, when the reserve level was 31.03 percent on a similar calendar date. Europa Press notes that drought was persistent then, and over the prior two years, 32 reservoirs registered reserves around 40.57 percent in 1994 and 40.91 percent in 1993.
Rainfall this week was scarce and uneven, favoring the Atlantic slope less than the Mediterranean corridor. The highest rainfall seen was in Valladolid, with 18.7 liters per square meter. In Cantabria, eastern zones report a reserve of 72.6 percent, western Cantabria 61.8 percent, and Miño-Sil around 50.5 percent. The Galician Coast shows about 62 percent, while inland basins in the Basque Country reach roughly 81 percent. In broader basins, Tinto, Odiel and Piedras are near 69.4 percent, Júcar about 58.4 percent, and Ebro near 51.5 percent.
Across eight basins, current conditions indicate storage is under half capacity in several major systems. The Duero basin stands at 42.2 percent, the Tagus at 40.5 percent, and the Guadiana at 25.8 percent. The Guadalete-Barbate system sits at 27.1 percent, Guadalquivir at 24.2 percent, the Andalusian Mediterranean basin around 40.7 percent, Segura at 39.9 percent, and Catalonia’s inner basins near 42.1 percent.