British expats on Spain's Costa del Sol left unable to flush toilet or shower 'due to drought'

British expats on Spain's Costa del Sol left unable to flush toilet or shower 'due to drought'

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George Bunn

By George Bunn


Published: 31/01/2024

- 21:20

Some families have been left without water for up to five days

Expats living on the Costa del Sol have been left without water for days after a suspected drought.

Dozens of families in the village of Valle Romano in the Costa del Sol have been left without water for up to five days.


Residents in the village, in the hills above the town of Estepona, have complained of being unable to shower, use the toilet or even keep their children clean.

The problems with the water supply in the village started earlier this week.

\u200bThe village is suffering from water shortages

The village is suffering from water shortages

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Local resident Alba Woodard, 34, told The Olive Press: "At first, Hidralia [the water company] said the problems were because of burst pipes or pump.

"They said they didn’t know when it would be fixed – it could be weeks."

However, Hidralia later hanged their tune and announced that the water cut off was due to a "lack of water" in the storage tanks.

Woodard, a property manager born in Bristol but raised in Estepona, complained it was "unfair to just cut off water to all these houses."

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Juanma Moreno

The president of the Junta de Andalusia, Juanma Moreno has warned the region needs 30 straight days of rain

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They added: "Down in Estepona, in the town, the water is flowing freely and they’re having a jolly. While up here, it’s awful. I have a three-year-old girl.

"Kids are messy, they spill fruit juice on the floor, they get sticky. I can’t even wash her hair. Is this the beginning of what’s to come?”

It comes as Spain has broken its record temperatures for the month. January 25 saw an historic high of 29.6C in Valencia, while Albacete, Cadiz, Cordoba, Jaen, Granada, Huelva, Logroño, Malaga, Cadiz and Teruel also broke their records.

Meanwhile, Andalusia’s reservoir levels are critically low, despite recent rainfall.

Across Malaga, water levels stand at 15 per cent, a 0.2 per cent drop even after three days of rainfall, while in Cadiz lakes are at just 15.32 per cent.

In Almeria, water supplies are at a disastrous 9.38 per cent.

The stark numbers come after politician Juanma Moreno warned the region needs 30 straight days of rain to avoid severe water cuts this summer.

However, the record high temperatures are forecast to hang around for the rest of January, with zero rain predicted.

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