HIGH AND DRY; Warning As Spain Holiday Homes Are Built With No Water

By MICHELLE O’KEEFFE

THOUSANDS of Irish sun-seekers snapping up Spanish holiday homes were warned yesterday they could be left feeling parched.

Around 300,000 houses being built in hotspots such as Valencia and Murcia in the Costa del Sol may not have a water supply.

Spanish Government spokesman Antonio Serrano said: "Hundreds of projects are being developed without any guarantee of water.

"Developers are continuing construction on 189 housing projects which may never receive supplies.

"The Mediterranean coastline, which has seen massive development in the past two decades, has been hit hard as the demand for running water for tourist resorts, golf courses, housing estates and irrigation for the country’s agricultural sector has grown.

"The Government’s priority must be to provide water to existing houses and to farmers."

In Valencia, which includes the Costa Blanca around Alicante, 100,000 homes are being built without pipelines, a report to the ministry has revealed.

And in Murcia in Southern Spain there is the same amount of houses being build without the guarantee of running water. But developers insisted the government has a duty to the utility to all new housing projects.

Secretary general of the Spanish Association of Building Developers Manuel Marti said: "We are not noting any slowdown in building because of a lack of water.

"Running water is a basic supply that the Government must guarantee."

And Jose Lopez Rejas, president of the Association of Developers in Murcia, said 800,000 homes will be built in the province over the next 30 years, despite the lack of water.

But environmental group Ecologists In Action said it will report any local mayors who approve new housing developments without the guarantee of running supplies.

Spokesman Santiago Barajas said: "Promoters could be committing a fraud if they sell houses without guaranteed pipelines."

Last year Spain was named the worst developed country for water management in a report by the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

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