The Provincial Council sets the emergency water price in Estepa at 0.4439 euros

The Provincial Council of Seville has set the public price for the supply of untreated raw water from the drinking water catchment and pumping infrastructure of Cerro de la Cruz, in Estepa, at 0.4439 euros per cubic meter, excluding VAT. This was established through an agreement of the Corporation’s Plenary on September 25, 2025, approved unanimously, which is published in full in the Official Gazette of the Province of Seville number 210, dated October 29, 2026, with the official reference BOP-SE-2026-210003. The measure affects the municipalities of the Estepa region connected to the El Puntal supply system.

An infrastructure born from a drought emergency

The origin of the installation lies in the plenary agreement of June 22, 2022, by which the Provincial Council of Seville approved emergency actions in several municipalities in response to the widespread drought that caused water shortages in the region. Among these was the construction of catchment and pumping infrastructures from a new borehole at Cerro de la Cruz to the shared reservoir of El Puntal, in Casariche, in order to guarantee the supply of raw potabilizable water for human consumption.

The works are detailed in the agreement approved by the provincial Plenary on June 26, 2025, to be signed between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of the Regional Government of Andalusia, the Provincial Council of Seville, the Sierra Sur Water Consortium —representing Algámitas, Villanueva de San Juan, El Saucejo, Los Corrales, Martín de la Jara, and La Roda de Andalucía— and the city councils of Lora de Estepa, Estepa, Casariche, Badolatosa, Gilena, Pedrera, Aguadulce, and Pruna. These are complementary works to the project for the improvement of quality and guarantee of supply of the Sierra Sur, section IV, currently being executed by the Regional Government of Andalusia.

The four city councils that may adhere

The regulatory text limits the subjective scope of the public price to the councils that formalize their adherence:

• Badolatosa City Council.
• Casariche City Council.
• Lora de Estepa City Council.
• La Roda de Andalucía City Council.

The request for adherence creates the right to the service from that very moment, regardless of the date of the resolution recognizing the status of recipient, according to article 3 of the annex. The infrastructure was registered in the Corporation’s General Inventory of Assets and Rights under the code 126FS49, and has a favorable health report dated July 17, 2025, from the Public Health Service of the Ministry of Health and Consumption.

Quarterly billing and two months to appeal

The price accrues upon the effective delivery of the water flow at high pressure and is settled with the city councils every quarter, detailing the cubic meters consumed as measured by a certified meter. Payment must be made by the 20th of the following month if the notification arrives between the 1st and 15th, or by the 5th of the second subsequent month if it arrives between the 16th and the last day of the month. The General Treasury of the Provincial Council of Seville collects the settlements, and debts may be claimed through executive proceedings.

The agreement, which exhausts the administrative route, enters into force the day following its publication and remains in effect until its express modification or repeal. An optional motion for reconsideration may be filed against it within one month, or a contentious-administrative appeal within two months before the Contentious-Administrative Section of the Court of First Instance of Seville. The announcement is signed by the secretary general, Fernando Fernández-Figueroa Guerrero, by delegation of the president according to Resolution No. 1221/2026, of March 3.

Impact for the region

The publication closes the economic framework of a water supply that began as an emergency response to the drought and is now financed by a tariff calculated to cover the cost of the service, in accordance with Article 44 of Legislative Royal Decree 2/2004. For the four adhering city councils, the price of 0.4439 euros per cubic meter marks the cost of the raw water that they must subsequently treat and distribute, within a context of persistent water stress in the Sierra Sur of Seville.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Seville, No. 210, October 29, 2026, Local Administration, p. 41 (official reference: BOP-SE-2026-210003).