Drought on the Costa Del Sol : 5 Tips to save water.

The Costa del Sol is just one of the many areas in Spain that is being massively affected by an acute water crisis being caused by a long lasting drought, with our reservoirs at just 21%.

The government has already put restrictions in place for Málaga (for drinkable water) such as cutting the water off or lowering the water pressure significantly during the night, a water limit of 150 litres of water a day per person, no jet-washing or hosing down outside spaces, no filling up pools or having irrigation on, etc.

Anyone who is caught breaking these rules put in place will face serious fines.

While it is extremely important to follow the rules put in place by the government, on average we waste around 42% of our water network & there are other small lifestyle changes we can make to reduce as much water waste as possible.

The reservoir of La Concepción, between Marbella and Istán, has already begun to reveal old buildings and ground previously submerged due to the drought.

1. Time spent in the shower and no baths.

   Those who shower let the water run for an average 1 minute 18 seconds before getting in, by stepping straight in can save almost 10 litres of water. The average amount of time spent in the shower is 8 minutes if you cut that time in half to four minutes it would save around 30 litres of water depending on the shower being used.

   Chose a shower over a bath unless you are bathing a baby or need to use a bath for medical reasons as even a shallow bath uses around 80 litres, while a short shower can use as little as a third of that amount.

2. Taps.

   Keeping the tap running while brushing your teeth for the recommended 2 minutes consumes approx. 12 litres of water. By turning the tap off, you save approx. 10 litres. For a family of four, this simple change of habit could save 80 litres of water a day! The same goes for ensuring you turn the tap off while you shave your face & making sure to fully turn off your taps and showers so it isn’t dripping consistently for long periods of time.

3. Washing machines and dishwashers.

   It’s always a good idea to do your washing once you have a full load, as a half load will still use the same amount of water. A modern, front loading washing machine on a standard 40 degree wash will use approx. 50 litres of water. The amount of water used by washing machines varies based on factors such as type and age of machine and the wash settings used.

   Washing Machine Type	Standard 40 degree wash
   Modern Front Loading	50 litres
   Modern Top Loader	120 – 150 litres
   Old Machines	Up to 180 litres

   While dishwashers do save more water than hand washing (up to 80% water is saved when using a dishwasher for a family of 4) it will only save water by putting it on when it is full, as putting it on daily if it isn’t full will waste a significant amount of water, if there are items you need for daily usage hand wash these & keep filling up the dishwasher until it has reached its full capacity.

4. Keep ‘leftover’ water.

   A very simple way to save water is by keeping our ‘leftover’ water, this refers to keeping the water that we use to cook or rinse fruit & vegetables.

   Another very simple and highly effective way to collect water that would otherwise be wasted is by putting a large bucket or a couple of smaller buckets in the shower while you wash, the buckets will collect a good amount of what otherwise would go down the drain and to waste.

   By saving all of this ‘leftover’ water we can save ourselves money and most importantly water as this water can be used to water plants, bird baths, animal water bowls, cleaning indoor & outdoor spaces, etc.

5. Tourism.

   This point is specifically for tourists / people who don’t permanently reside in Spain, recently we have seen a massive jump in holiday makers explaining their thoughts towards the drought. A lot seem to have the understanding that the restrictions shouldn’t apply to them as they are only here for a week or so, so they can’t possibly be using as much water as locals who use water every single day. Well unfortunately this couldn’t be further from the truth, truth is that a permanent resident used on average 163 litres of water per day and a study in 2022 found that on average a tourist used 242 litres of water per day.

   While one person using more than the average citizen for one week wouldn’t make a big difference, the Costa Del Sol had over 14 million tourists visit in 2023.

   Therefore, the mentality of ‘I’m only here a week so I don’t have to follow the rules’ is such a detrimental and very scary scenario, as if every tourist has the same mentality using almost double the water consumption of the average resident, it could have severe consequences.

   If you love Spain as much as we do please abide by the restrictions that are in place during your stay so we can overcome the drought as soon as possible!

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