Tap water in parts of a Spanish tourist hotspot has become so salty it is undrinkable, with residents and visitors having to queue for bottled or tank water as the region struggles with a severe, prolonged drought.
Several towns on the Costa Blanca, a 100-mile stretch of Mediterranean coastline in the southeastern province of Alicante, have been hit as the underground water supplies they rely on have shrunk due to a lack of rainfall.
As the groundwater level dropped, space was created for seawater to enter, which contaminated the drinking water.
The problem has been going on for months. In March, the Jucar River Basin Authority, which is responsible for water management in the region, stated: “an exceptional situation of extraordinary drought“in parts of Alicante.
But the crisis has worsened in the summer as an influx of tourists increases demand for water, both for drinking and recreation. There are about 38,000 swimming pools in the region about one in five residents, Reuters said, citing the National Institute of Statistics.
In the municipality of Teulada-Moraira, which has a population of around 12,000 but can increase fivefold in the summer months, local authorities declared tap water unfit for consumption in August, following months of rising salt levels.
In June, a salinity level was detected at one of the wells 10 times higher than normal.
Local authorities have now installed drinking water tanks at distribution points, where people are allowed to drink up to 100 liters of water. 20 liters per week each.
In nearby El Poble Nou de Benitatxell, authorities announced in June that the town was experiencing a “very serious situation“with a high salt content in the drinking water “after two years of a rainfall deficit.”
This month the mayor of the city tap water declared undrinkable and advised people not to drink, cook or prepare food with it. Authorities are currently distributing free bottled water to residents.
“This situation will continue as long as weather conditions do not change and aquifers are not replenished, or as soon as the high demand for water in summer decreases,” Miguel Ángel García Buigues, the city’s mayor, said in a statement in mid-August.
But it’s unlikely that there will be any relief in the coming weeks. There is no forecast for widespread rain in the short term, said José Ángel Núñez Mora, a climatologist with AEMET, Spain’s national weather service. Rain usually doesn’t start falling consistently until October, he told CNN.
Even when it rains, a lot of water is still needed to replenish the water supply.
In Marina Alta, the region of Alicante where the affected cities are located, less than a quarter of what would normally be expected has fallen. “There is no precedent for a 12-month period as dry as the current one,” Núñez Mora said.
The region’s unusually hot weather also contributed to the crisis, an example of “compound extremes” that are becoming more common due to human-caused climate change, he added.
This part of Spain is generally used to droughts and has adapted to them, Núñez Mora said, but “when the droughts are very intense and prolonged, the consequences become widespread … the impact is also felt on water resources for human use.”
Other parts of Spain are also experiencing severe and prolonged drought.
The northeastern region of Catalonia has a state of emergency in February, with restrictions on water for agriculture, industry and recreational use.
Last year, a drought and record heatwave caused Catalonia’s reservoirs to shrink. One reservoir fell to such a low level that a medieval village, which was flooded when the lake was created in the 1960s, came from the dried-out bottom of the lake.
Extreme heat and prolonged drought are becoming a new reality for parts of Spain and other countries in Europe, a continent that heat up faster than any other region.
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