The threat of a drought moves away from the province of Alicante, at least until the end of the hydrological year in September. As such, it will no longer be necessary to apply water restrictions on water consumption to irrigate crops and supply municipalities, as the authorities had planned to introduce from July. The circumstances have completely changed in May and should now bring guarantees to agricultural and urban supplies in the Alicante Province until the beginning of October.
The abundant rains brought by the Isolated High Level Depression (DANA) have contributed to this in the last week and the storm three weeks ago on May 7, a period of continuous rainfall that ended five months of suffocating drought.
Although the reservoirs, especially those making up the Segura basin, have barely increased their level of dammed water, the important thing is that the moisture stored in the soil has reached a depth of 40 centimetres, according to Jorge Olcina, professor of Regional Geographic Analysis and director of the Climatology Laboratory at the University of Alicante.
Although the rains have been both dispersed and irregular, the average rainfall so far exceeds 70 litres per square metre in the central and southern regions of the province – Vega Baja, Baix Vinalopó, l’Alacantí and Alto y Medio Vinalopó – while that in the north – l’Alcoià, Marina Alta, Marina Baixa and El Comtat – the amount is over 150 litres per square metre.
