The water levels in the Segura River basin have gone up again. According to the Segura River Basin Authority, the water in its main reservoirs has risen by 76 cubic hectometres (hm3) in the past week.
The district had 526 hm3 on yesterday, Wednesday February 18th, which is almost half of its total capacity of 1,140 hectometres. This includes the 100 hectometres that make up the capacity of 15 small reservoirs that are only there to protect against floods and can never supply water for irrigation or supply.
The CHS numbers don’t include the 8 hm3 that are held in the Albacete reservoir in Taibilla. This reservoir is at 90% of its capacity and its reserves are only used for “drinking water” in cities.
Long-term lack
This amount of stored water hasn’t been reported since the spring of 2021, which is five years ago. The Segura basin has gone over 50% of its capacity in the last few years, such in 2010 and 2013. However, this is not the typical in the historical record, where there is usually a lot of water shortage.
Year of hydrology
In October, the start of the current hydrological year, the amount of water held in reservoirs was just over 20% of their capacity. The water levels went up because of the precipitation in January and, notably, February. The Segura River Basin only had 228 hm³ in the same week of February 2025. The average during the last ten years is only 343 hm³, or 30%. The Segura River Basin still has the least amount of water resources in Spain compared to its capacity, even though it gets a lot of rain.
The new flows have mostly gone into the Cenajo reservoir this week. It is the most important reservoir in the hydrographic demarcation network and has a capacity of 438 hm3. It is now at 37% of its capacity, with 165 hm3 coming from the Albacete reservoir of La Fuensanta in Yeste, which is close to 80% of its capacity and reserves 168 hm3.
The La Fuensanta reservoir, which is the third largest with a capacity of 210 hm3, is getting a lot of water from the Sierras del Segura. This is where snow builds up and ravines, springs, and streams that have been dry for years have come back to life, including the very source of the Segura in Santiago Pontones, Jaén.
But the inflow has made it take longer for water to get to the Fuensanta reservoir. Right now, it’s about 50 cubic metres per second, down from 150 a week ago. Between the end of January and February, some parts of the mountain ranges that feed the Segura River and its primary tributary, the Mundo River, saw between 500 and 700 litres of rain and snow per square metre. This happened in places like Don Domingo, the Hernán Pelea lowlands, and Riópar.
The release commission should move forward
In this situation, traditional irrigators in the Lower Segura region and the agricultural group Asaja – Alicante have asked the Segura River Basin Authority (CHS) to move the Reservoir Release Commission meeting that is set for the end of March to an earlier date. The goal is to greatly lessen or get rid of the irrigation limits of up to 49% that have been in place for more than a year and were even raised last December.
Farmers who water more than 22,000 hectares of land with water from the Segura River are getting their summer crops and citrus groves ready. This is expected to increase demand after a relatively wet winter when there was less need for irrigation. River flow records in the Vega Baja region have been rising in December, January, and February. The San Antonio weir near Guardamar, at the end of the Segura River, gives extra water to the Camp d’Elx region for irrigation. Riegos de Levante Margen Izquierda holds these extra water concessions. José Bernabé, a judge on the Orihuela Water Court, also said on Wednesday that he supported moving the commission’s meeting up.
The Quarry
The huge amount of water that has been flowing into the basin’s reservoirs has been seen not just in the headwater reservoirs, which farmers rely on for water, but also in the La Pedrera de Orihuela-San Miguel de Salinas regulating reservoir. The water that comes from the Tagus-Segura transfer through Ojós and the desalinated water from the Torrevieja plant usually goes into this reservoir. The surge has made the reservoir, which keeps water levels extremely consistent all year, go over 30% of its capacity in the last week, holding over 78 cubic hectometres.
Traditional irrigators think that the water levels at La Pedrera are rising because water is being diverted from the Ojós reservoir. This is done to stop the Segura River from rising too much and to use the extra water instead of letting it run into the sea. The Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS) hasn’t given any information about how much water the Segura has added to this reservoir. However, the flooding has reached up to 50% of the river’s discharge capacity as it flows past Benejúzar and the city of Rojales.
Infrastructure
Even though it never rains to everyone’s liking, the huge amount of water that has flowed into the headwater reservoirs has brought up the question of whether or not to move forward with infrastructure projects that are already in the works. For example, the Camarillas reservoir has been releasing water for a week now and is at 80% of its 30 cubic hectometre capacity. The Segura River Basin Management Plan (2022–2027) includes a proposal to expand this reservoir in the Albacete municipality of Hellín. The budget for the project is 37 million euros. The plan also includes another project that will use the released water to make power with an extra investment of 11 million euros. The Central Union of Irrigators of the Tagus-Segura Aqueduct (SCRATS) has asked for the enlargement of Camarillas, but farmers in Agramón and Hellín are strongly against it since it would flood a large portion of their fields.
Canal Talave-Cenajo
There has also been a push from the political world. The People’s Party (PP) of Murcia is calling for action to make the tunnel that connects the Talave reservoir with the Cenajo reservoir bigger. The tunnel has been in use since 2014, but right now it is solely utilised to boost the resources available for urban consumption. The People’s Party and the Central Union of Irrigators want to use it to make use of extra water, especially since that the Talave reservoir is only 77% full of its 30 hm³ capacity. This is because of both the rain and the fact that it is holding a lot of water from the transfer system that can’t be sent downstream since the irrigation communities’ reservoirs are full.
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