What water restrictions ban: pools, gardens and car washing

Key rules

• Pool filling: Filling a private pool is generally restricted from alert and banned in emergency.
• Garden watering: In emergency, watering lawns and ornamental gardens with drinking water is usually banned.
• Car washing: Home hose washing is usually banned from alert, while recycling car washes are normally allowed.
• Local rules: Your region and town set the exact hours, bans and exemptions, so read your town's current bando.

The short version

Water restrictions in Spain usually hit four things: filling private pools, watering gardens, washing cars at home and beach showers. The higher the drought level, the stricter the ban. Each rule has exemptions. The exact wording is set by your region and your town, so always read your town's current notice (the "bando").

How the levels work

Drought plans use scenarios: normality, prealert, alert and emergency. Catalonia uses its own phases (exceptionality, alert and emergency). In the early levels, you are mostly asked to save water voluntarily. Bans mostly start at alert and become near-total in emergency. Levels change as reservoirs rise and fall, so what applies now may differ from last year.

Private pools

• Filling: Filling a private pool is generally restricted from alert and banned in emergency. Refilling a pool after you have emptied it is the thing most often banned.
• Topping up: Topping up a full pool to replace evaporation is usually allowed. Expect a duty to keep it covered and to recirculate the water. In severe emergency phases, some towns limit even top-ups.
• Emptying: Many towns let you empty a pool only if you reuse the water, for example to irrigate.
• Exemptions: Common ones are public pools, health and therapy pools, pools needed for safety such as a fire reserve, and sports or school pools, often with water-saving duties. Pools filled from non-potable sources (rainwater, a permitted well, reclaimed or tanker water) are also commonly exempt. Some bandos allow a small reduced fill for sanitary upkeep.

Gardens and lawns

• Prealert: Mostly voluntary savings, sometimes night or early-morning watering only.
• Alert: Watering is typically limited to set hours and days, often at night only, with drip or manual watering. No sprinklers on lawns.
• Emergency: Watering lawns and ornamental gardens with drinking-water supply is usually banned.
• Allowed in many places: Reclaimed or non-potable water, and watering needed to keep trees alive.

Washing your car

Washing a car with a hose at home is usually banned from alert, and often discouraged even earlier. Commercial car washes that recycle water are normally allowed, sometimes with reduced use. In Catalonia's emergency phase, washing vehicles outside authorised commercial facilities was banned. Some towns tolerate a bucket at lower levels.

Beach showers and fountains

Beach showers and foot-washers are often turned off or limited as the drought gets worse. Ornamental fountains are switched off or run in a closed circuit in alert and emergency. Drinking fountains generally stay on for public health. Some towns use timed or push-button taps.

What to do

Ask your town hall which level applies now and what its current bando bans. If you are choosing a home with a pool or garden, the decision and checklist below help you weigh it up.

Should you choose a home with a pool in a drought area?

Is a home with a pool a wise choice in an area that has drought restrictions?

• Go ahead with the pool home: The area has had little drought history, the public water supply is steady, and the pool can be topped up or filled from allowed sources such as rainwater or a permitted well.

• Buy only if the water source is secure: The area has been in alerta or emergencia before. Filling private pools from the mains is generally restricted in alerta and banned in emergencia, so you need your own legal water, such as rainwater, an authorised well or tanker water of legal origin.

• Choose a home without a pool: The town has had cuts, low pressure or tanker supply, or the home depends on a well with no documented water right. A pool would sit empty or unusable in the worst phases.

• Accept a garden but plan for limits: You want outdoor space but not the pool risk. Expect irrigation limits in restricted phases and plan for low-water planting.

Before you decide, ask the town hall and the water company which drought level the town has been in, where the water comes from (reservoir, aquifer, desalination or a local well) and whether there have been cuts or tanker supply. Ask neighbours and the community of owners about summer cuts. Check the latest monthly drought report for the area's basin. Confirm the home has a public connection with a meter and contract, or, for a well or tank, get the documents proving the water right. Then find out how the town treats filling and topping up pools: public, sanitary and safety pools are often exempt, and topping up to replace evaporation is often allowed.

Checklist

• Ask your town hall which drought scenario applies now and what its bando bans for pools, gardens and car washing.

• Do not refill a private pool after emptying it, since filling is restricted from alerta and banned in emergencia.

• Cover your pool and recirculate its water if you top it up to replace evaporation.

• Confirm the permitted watering hours and days for your garden, often night-time only with drip or manual watering and no lawn sprinklers.

• Stop watering lawns and ornamental gardens with drinking water once emergencia applies.

• Switch to reclaimed or non-potable water for the garden, or ask whether watering to keep trees alive is allowed.

• Stop washing your car with a hose at home from alerta, and use a commercial car wash that recycles water.

• Ask whether your pool falls under an exemption, such as a non-potable water source, before you fill it.

Frequently asked questions

Can I top up a pool that is already full during a drought?

Usually yes, you can top up a pool that is already full to replace evaporation, but you cannot refill it after emptying it. Many rules also require a cover and water recirculation.

Can I water my garden with non-drinking water during restrictions?

Often yes, watering with reclaimed or non-potable water is allowed, as is watering needed to keep trees alive. In emergency, watering lawns and ornamental gardens with drinking-water supply is usually banned. Check your local bando for the exact wording.

Can I still wash my car by hand at a lower restriction level?

Bucket washing may be tolerated at lower levels, depending on your municipality, but hose washing at home is usually banned from alerta.

Are beach showers and drinking fountains turned off in a drought?

Beach showers are often turned off or limited as restrictions escalate, depending on the local council and scenario.

Which pools are exempt from the filling ban?

Public pools, sanitary or therapeutic pools, safety pools such as fire reserves, and sports or educational pools are often exempt, usually with a duty to cover them and cut water use.