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Water and discharges: whether the tap ran last summer

In 2023 and 2024 several municipalities in Málaga, Catalonia and the Valencia region had night-time water cuts and use restrictions. The system a home depends on, the level of its reservoirs and the measures of recent summers are public. So are the authorised discharges nearby and the sanitary classification of the beaches.

The supply system

Each municipality depends on one or more reservoirs or aquifers. MITECO's hydrological bulletins and the basin authorities' viewers give the weekly level of each reservoir; the history since 2015 shows the summer minima. A system that has dropped below 20 % three summers running is a system with restrictions next summer. The regional agencies (ACA in Catalonia, URA in the Basque Country, the Junta in Andalusia) publish drought phases and measures by municipality.

Restrictions and cuts

There is no single register of cuts. There are municipal notices, agency resolutions and local press. A serious report documents them with date and source; a listing never mentions them. Ask at the town hall and ask the neighbours: "were there cuts in summer?" is a question answered with surprising honesty.

Authorised discharges

The National Discharge Census (MITECO) and the basin and agency registers (ACA, URA) list every authorised discharge to river or sea with its holder and type (urban, industrial, treatment plant). An outfall or a treatment plant 300 m away is not a finding in itself; it is context for the smell in summer and for the state of the river reach or the beach.

Beaches

The Health Ministry's NÁYADE system classifies every bathing area (excellent, good, sufficient, insufficient) from the season's sampling. A beach rated "sufficient" three years running says something about the municipality's sewerage.

What the PropVer report does

It identifies the municipality's supply system, prints the summer minima of its reservoirs since 2015 and the documented restrictions; lists the authorised discharges within 500 m and the classification of bathing areas within 2 km; and, in the Basque Country, cross-checks the status of water bodies and the nitrate-vulnerable zones.

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Address, cadastral reference, coordinates or a click on the map. If it is in the service area, the report is free during the beta.

Check a property

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Updated 2026-10-23.