Some towns in Tenerife, the Canary Islands, have started to impose water restrictions after the island declared a drought emergency.
Fasnia, in the south of Tenerife, is restricting water consumption and has asked for everyone’s co-operation.
The new rules ban the use of drinking water for irrigation, re-filling swimming pools, ponds, reservoirs or tanks, cleaning facades, vehicle washing (with the exception of gas stations), and the use of showers on the municipality’s beaches.
The mayor, Luis Javier González Delgado told Diario de Avisos: “These are measures that the Government group adopts from a position of responsibility, it is not a matter that has to do with good or bad management, but with the worsening of an anomalous meteorological situation.”
Fasnia council says that, as is the case in other municipalities on the island, the scarcity of water resources has been accentuated due to the adverse weather situation that the archipelago has been suffering for years.
These conditions have been further aggravated by an autumn and winter that has been drier than usual.
Fasnia council has called on residents to take extreme savings measures with the aim of “achieving more responsible and efficient consumption, and, above all, guaranteeing the supply of water for human consumption”.
Tenerife as a whole is expected to declare a water emergency soon, possibly today, as the island is expected to experience its most critical period this summer if heavy rain does not arrive which seems unlikely.
Last week, Tenerife’s Government said the ponds are currently in a worrying state, with only 39 percent of water stored, when at this time of year it is normal for it to exceed 70 percent.
Tourists could be affected by the widespread drought declaration in Tenerife although a lot of the big hotels have their own arrangements and many of their pools are filled from the sea.
Diario de Avisos added: “The motion for the declaration of a water emergency by the Cabildo is supported by technical information that highlights the consequences of the warm thermal anomalies and the rainfall deficit in recent years.”
Source: express.co.uk