• SOS economy of the Andalusian countryside, suffocated by drought
  • Environment Drought hits Andalusian wetlands

The Junta de Andalucía has sent a letter to the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (CHG), dependent on the central government, in which it requests the release of enough water for the pilgrims of the Rocío pilgrimage to cross it with the usual picture: splashing in the water and performing the traditional baptism to the new pilgrims.

This has been confirmed by the CHG, who is willing to study the request as long as "it can be made to coincide with a damming of those planned in May for agricultural irrigation," according to a spokesman. This water would come from the Agrio reservoir, located in a tributary of the Guadiamar and currently at 75% of its capacity, which was already used last year in May for the same agricultural purpose. The meeting of the CHG that will evaluate the request of the Board will be "in the coming days".

The outward journey of the Rocío pilgrimage will take place between May 22 and 26. This ford on the Guadiamar, known by the Rocieros as Vado de Quema, is crossed by all the brotherhoods that use the Seville route.

Precisely now it is 25 years since the disaster of the Boliden Apirsa mining dam, in Aznalcóllar, the last time the ford could not be crossed, in this case due to the avalanche of mud contaminated by heavy metals that covered that enclave.

The request, according to the CHG, has been made from those responsible for the Romero Plan of the Board, which is directed by the counselor of the Presidency, Antonio Sanz. In 2022, the Guadiamar did carry enough water for the typical prints to be produced during the passage of the rocieros.

The drought situation has only worsened for a year, so that today the Guadiamar is completely dry at that point, so sensitive to the Rociera iconography that, even after the mining disaster, the Board and the brotherhoods rushed to the maximum the deadlines to try to cross it.

The extreme drought, aggravated in recent months, already threatens the supply for human consumption. The president of the Board, Juanma Moreno, warned this Wednesday in Córdoba that, "if it did not rain" between now and next September, the regional administration, in the Mediterranean basins, which are in which it is "competent" and that cover "27% of the Andalusian territory", would have to take "the decision" to apply "limitations" in the use of water, for "irrigation, street cleaning, pool filling and garden irrigation".

  • Drought
  • Huelva
  • Environment
  • Seville
  • Córdoba

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more