After a loss of 462 cubic hectometers, which accounts for 0.8 percent of the total capacity, the water reserve has declined again this week to 19,209 hectometers, according to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge. The total capacity stands at 56,136 cubic meters of water.
This figure marks the lowest level in 28 years, with no Reservoirs level like this remembered since 1994 around this week of the year. Back then, the reservoirs were at 34.91 percent of capacity, and by the following year, 1995, they were still lower in the same week at 26.98 percent. These figures represent the deepest lows recorded in the data series.
Currently, reservoirs hold 3,659 cubic hectometers less than a year ago, a 16 percent drop, and the gap versus the decade’s average is 9,908 cubic hectometers, a 34.02 percent shortfall.
Regionally, the East Bay of Biscay remains above half of its capacity at 69.9 percent; Western Cantabria at 57.5 percent; the Galician Coast at 54.8 percent; Basque inland basins at 71.4 percent; and the Tinto, Odiel and Piedras basin at 65.9 percent.
Miño-Sil reservoirs store less than half of their capacity at 46.7 percent; Duero at 35.8 percent; Tagus at 36.7 percent; the Andalusian Mediterranean basin at 40.5 percent; Safe at 35.2 percent; Jucar at 53.8 percent; Ebro at 39.5 percent and the inner Catalonia basins at 38.3 percent.
Three basins show particularly weak conditions: Guadiana at 23.9 percent, Guadalete-Barbate at 24 percent and Guadalquivir at 21 percent.
Precipitation this week affected the Atlantic slope more than the Mediterranean slope. The highest rainfall occurred in Santiago de Compostela, with 58 liters per square meter recorded.
Overall, the reserve now stores 3,659 cubic hectometers, a figure that remains 9,908 cubic hectometers lower than a year ago and 34.02 percent below the long-term average for the period.
26% precipitation deficit
New data from the State Meteorological Institute (AEMET) covering the hydrological year from October 1, 2021 to September 6, 2022 show a rainfall deficit of 26 percent. In the window from September 1, 2021 to September 6, the normal average would be about 603 liters per square meter, but actual rainfall averaged 445 liters per square meter.
Across regions, below-average precipitation was recorded along the Cantabrian coast for much of the Peninsula and the Canary Islands, with exceptions along a Levante strip from southern Almería to the Ebro delta and parts of the Balearic region. Pitiusas and the northeast of Mallorca were also drier than usual.
Between August 31 and September 6, rainfall affected the Galician and Cantabrian coasts, the northeastern quarter of the Peninsula, the western Canary Islands, portions of the Balearic archipelago, and the semi-eastern part of Andalusia to a lesser extent.
During this period, rainfalls exceeding 10 liters per square meter occurred in the western Galician coast, Catalonia, northern Huesca, the higher relief zones of the Canary Islands such as La Palma, Tenerife and La Gomera, and in parts east of the Balearic Islands of Majorca and Minorca.