Farmers in Elche have been told they can only water their crops for eight minutes a day. But authorities say there is just enough domestic water available to get through the summer.
The winter of 2004-2005 is marked one of the driest periods of the last 60 years. Meanwhile the spring season is not bringing the expected precipitation, further sharpening losses in the drier areas.
The Costa Brava in the north-east and the region south of Alicante, both big tourist centres, are for the moment among the worst-affected areas. Public showers on the south-eastern beaches of Murcia have been shut off.
With the change of government the plan to bring water to the region was via an aqueduct was cancelled and desalination plants were put forward as the solution. Nonetheless these will be several years in the making. As a result the environment minister, Cristina Narbona, has announced an emergency €370m package to stave off the effects of the drought and prevent widespread domestic rationing.
"Problems of supply may get to households at the end of September," the left wing and pro government El País newspaper warned in an editorial.
How the drought will develop further is dependant on temperatures and rainfall. Because of that it is not possible to quantify the damage done before the end of the month. Nonetheless people are preparing to face the challenges ahead. The total damage in the drought stricken areas amounts € 1,3 billion.
Large produce companies and cooperation’s from Murcia in the South of Spain received the request to look for possibilities to temporarily move their plantations elsewhere this season, due to the shortage of irrigation water and the disastrous perspectives for the coming months. Now there is still enough time to arrange emergency measures and construct alternative fields in other provinces outside Murcia.
The Spanish produce sector has invested a lot of effort in creating a strong export position in various markets and when a situation arises in which producers can no longer satisfy customers’ demands, it is feared competition from Italy, Morocco, Chile, Brazil or Mexico, which can produce at lowers costs will step in and take over relationships. It is expected that the drought can lead to the disappearance of 9.500 ha out of the present 12.000 ha of irrigated crops in Murcia. Elsewhere in Spanish press the loss of one third of the entire grain crop is reported, equalling 30.000 ha, due to drought.
Water pressure has been reduced in some areas and 95% of towns in Catalonia, which is experiencing its worst drought since 1945, have imposed restrictions. A handful of villages in the interior of Catalonia and Huesca have to distribute water in jerry cans.
The Costa Blanca is facing one of the worst droughts in living memory. Along with much of Eastern Spain there is already water rationing in place. 
