Waters of Galicia: drought alert in Lérez, Anllóns and Baiona

The Presidency of Augas de Galicia activated the alert or severe shortage situation in the territorial shortage units of the Lérez river and Pontevedra estuary and of the Anllóns river and A Coruña coast, and decreed measures equivalent to that scenario in the Baiona subsystem. The resolution, dated 11 August 2026 and signed by the president Ángeles Vázquez Mejuto, was published in the Official Gazette of Galicia (DOG) number 153, on Friday 14 August, on page 44605.

The agreement falls within the Special Drought Plan of the Galicia Costa hydrographic district, approved by the Council of the Xunta de Galicia on 2 June 2022 and published in the DOG on 1 July 2022. The plan defines shortage as a temporary reduction in available water that may put at risk the meeting of demands associated with different socioeconomic uses, and assigns to the Presidency of Augas de Galicia the competence to activate the alert or severe shortage scenario (section 10.4.2 of the plan).

The activation is not the first measure of this summer: on 8 July 2026, the director of Augas de Galicia had already declared the pre-alert or moderate shortage in UTE 3 and 10 and the application of equivalent measures in the Baiona subsystem. The drought monitoring report of 6 August, which analyses the state of the indicators as of 1 August, found that the shortage values already corresponded to a situation of alert or severe shortage; on 11 August, the Technical Drought Office met and proposed the activation of the new scenario.

Affected units

The resolution declares the alert or severe shortage in the following territorial shortage units (UTE):

• UTE 3: Lérez river and Pontevedra estuary.
• UTE 10: Anllóns river and the coast of A Coruña up to the boundary with Arteixo.
• Baiona subsystem, located in UTE 1 (Verdugo river, Vigo estuary and Baiona estuary), where measures equivalent to the severe alert scenario are activated.

In the case of Baiona, the final text raises the protection initially agreed: the proposal of the Technical Drought Office of 11 August contemplated measures equivalent to a pre-alert or moderate shortage, but the Presidency resolution activates there measures equivalent to the alert or severe shortage scenario.

What the alert implies

With the activation, the municipalities, residents and economic sectors of the affected regions fall under the set of measures that the plan provides for the alert scenario, aimed at guaranteeing the meeting of priority demands in the face of the temporary reduction of available water. The plan itself sets the activation and deactivation thresholds for the different shortage scenarios (section 7.2.2), so the lifting of the measures will depend on the evolution of the hydrological indicators, which are analysed through monthly monitoring reports (section 10.4.2).

Official document

The resolution, issued on 11 August 2026 in Santiago de Compostela, appears in section III (Other provisions) of DOG number 153, corresponding to Friday 14 August 2026, with verification code CVE-DOG dvntj0f5-2ky0-ncr9-uot9-8njxl0oew2s8 (Notice O143-110826-0001).

The activation of the alert means that local administrations and users in the regions of Pontevedra, the A Coruña coast and Baiona are subject to the measures of the severe scarcity scenario, with the aim of guaranteeing priority demands while the indicators do not recover levels that allow the scenario to be deactivated. The monthly monitoring of the plan will determine when hydrological normality recovers in these areas, which are critical for supply and coastal economic activity.

Source: Official Gazette of Galicia, no. 153, 14 August 2026, section III (Other provisions), p. 44605 (official reference: CVE-DOG dvntj0f5-2ky0-ncr9-uot9-8njxl0oew2s8).