A huge lake in the middle of Torremolinos, on the Costa del Sol, completely dried up after the local council imposed extreme drought measures on the Andalusian village.
The pond, seen by many residents as the town’s green lung, has become a “strategic water reserve”.
Authorities in southern Spain have taken the drastic measure of draining a massive man-made Parque de la Bateria pond, intended for leisure boating for tourists. Officials have used up the lake’s immense 4.5 million litres of water in just eight months to combat the ongoing drought plaguing the region.
In December last year, the council passed a decree banning the “ornamental or private fountains and lakes, unless they have recirculation system” due to the ongoing drought.
Following this, the local government shut down the tourist landmark lake and ordered it to be drained in January this year, under orders from mayor Margarita del Cid.
Officials have used the water from the man-made lake, which is an immense 9,000 square metres, for the “emergency watering of trees or other plant species of special interest” around the holiday resort park.
Sadly, it does not appear that the lake will be replenished anytime soon, amid talks in the town hall of storing the boats until “better times”.
Torremolinos is hugely popular among British tourists, with more than 10,000 visitors from the UK in February this year alone.
It was the first of the Costa del Sol resorts to be developed and remains the most popular resort destination in the region.
While it is popular with British tourists, Torremolinos also welcomes a large amount of Dutch, German and Irish visitors.
Costa del Sol has long suffered from ongoing drought conditions and struggled to contend with dwindling water supplies.
In April this year, the local council banned private pools from being filled up with water as well as the washing down of streets, pavements, and façades.
People are also forbidden to use public showers and drinking fountains or to wash cars.
The local government is mulling over potentially reducing the size of the lake in the popular park to save water.
It is not the ony Spanish region struggling with drought conditions.
Several towns on the Costa Blanca, a more than 100-mile stretch of coastline in the country’s southeastern Alicante province, has been badly affected by a lack of rainfall in recent months.
The drought has seen tap water in parts of the Spanish tourist destination become so salty it’s undrinkable, with residents and visitors having to line up for bottled drinking water.
In August, in Teulada-Moraira, which has a population of around 12,000, but can grow five times this in the summer months, local authorities declared tap water unfit for consumption, after months of rising salt levels.
Leave a Reply