Cole Sinanian
MARBELLA mayor Angeles Muñoz told journalists at a press conference Friday that she would consider authorising the refilling of private swimming pools after May 1, when the Junta is scheduled to reassess drought levels.
Muñoz indicated that the decision should be made in conjunction with the other Malaga municipalities, and highlighted that while each town will have its own criteria and needs, each should ‘be respectful of the steps that have been marked’ and follow the Junta’s guidance.
“When we have the opportunity to go from a ‘grave’ degree of drought to ‘severe,’ which is one step lower, we’ll be in a position to take a measure, which I believe should be a joint measure,” she told reporters.
The Malaga province currently has a “grave” drought advisory, the highest level, which denotes emergency conditions that require “exceptional and extraordinary measures.”
Muñoz’s announcement comes after Estepona mayor José María García Urbano announced on Thursday that Estepona would allow the refilling of private swimming pools this summer, with the construction of a new desalination plant allowing the loosening of drought restrictions.
As part of its toughening drought measures, the Junta banned the filling of public and private swimming pools in Malaga in March, though continued to allow the filling of municipal, tourist, and health-related swimming pools.
But after heavy rains at the end of March, president of the Junta Juanma Moreno announced that community pools would be allowed again in Malaga, Granada, and Almeria, and the filling of private pools would remain up to municipal governments.
The Malaga province has more than 78,000 swimming pools, while Marbella leads the province, counting some 10,744.
Meanwhile, PSOE representatives are set to appear at the upcoming plenary session of the Socialist Municipal Group in Marbella, where they will request the modification of the Junta’s drought policy to something more equitable.
The PSOE criticised the Junta’s policies for affecting residents “unequally,” with restrictions on private pools but not hotel pools harming small businesses, and restrictions on watering causing community and private gardens to whither.
READ MORE
- Drought latest: Town halls are given the power to lift the ban on filling private swimming pools in Spain’s Andalucia
- Protests over swimming pool bans in southern Spain: Locals fume after government prioritises hotels over private homes amid ongoing drought
