Málaga city has been in a state of drought now for 3 years and the water company Emasa has been monitoring the unauthorised use of valuable drinking water for such things as filling swimming pools.
Having noted 2,324 swimming pools in the city, Emasa sent out letters reminding people that drinking water is not to be used for filling swimming pools, washin the street or watering gardens. Despite this, 12 communities have been found to be using drinking water to fill their swimming pools. Fines for such actions could go as high as €600,000.
Emasa have been using satellite images as well as details of water consumption figures during their surveillance operation. In the past, Emasa was solely reliant on the property register with regard to water consumption and, because some of the communities involved are quite large, it was very difficult to judge excess water consumption as there could have been numerous reasons for deviations from the normal levels.