We live in a rustic house in Malaga Campo, not far from Alhaurin el Grande, but on the outskirts, in the countryside with great views – you may have seen my photos 😉
We drive off the main road, a short way up a public lane, then left up a track which leads to our house first, then down the side A view over Andalucian countryside to the mountainsto an unrestored property. Our landlady’s brother lives in this almost not-a-ruin & eaks out a simple living as some kind of casual worker when & where he can.
We didn’t have problems with the water supply during summer & from the end of June to the beginning of September, we filled the pool three times with no idea how much this would cost, but thought well worth it to cool down with a swim during the hot weather.
The meter is at the beginning of our track, together with one for Antonio’s house further down the hill below us, but not actually accessed from our lane. On 
25th October, Belen landlady came with a water bill dated 1st June to 30 September for the grand sum of €490! As we’d moved in part-way through June & as there’d been a leak on the supply, Belen requested €300.
We knew there’d been a leak in the pipe on the lane as Antonio had told us in August when he flagged us down in the car part-way down the lane. We dutifully informed Belen, but when she brought the bill, she said that Antonio had paid to fix the water leak. However we were a little concerned that our meter dial whirred round & round, seemingly to indicate a continuous water flow…
As we rented for just 7 months, the water & electricity were not transferred into our name & although we took photos of both meter readings, I gave-up attempting to calculate our useage part-way through a billing period against the price per unit & decipher the Spanish bills 🙁
In September the rains came & our water supply sometimes went off.
We could make a drink & use water in the kitchen due to the tank on the roof, whilst a bucket dipped in the filthy pool was used to flush the loo. We hadn’t drained the pool as both Rob & I felt that mucky water was better (& safer) than a deep concrete hole in the garden. The dirty water wouldn’t be pleasant to fall into, but neither would any bones be broke.
One day a moped riding council worker arrived from the Ayunamiento, I thought initially to ask if we had any water. “Si!“, I said brightly, having had a shower earlier & reached for the tap on the outside sink to show him.
No hay agua – no water 🙁
He explained (I think) that Antonio had complained about a leak in the pipe on the lane, between our meter & the house. Good old Antonio! We were therefore instructed to keep the main valve turned off & only turn it on when we actually needed water. So I informed Belen that the councilman had insisted we get a plumber ASAP & she was (apparently) on-it.
A week went by & it was a bit of a pain.
The meter is approx half a kilometre down the lane. We try & combine turning the supply on & off with needing to be at the end of the lane – walking dogs or heading out in the car etc. However, we’ve trudged down with a torch in the dark a few times.
Remember Portugal a year ago?
This takes the hassle of turning the valve at the bottom of the tank in the yellow house quite a few steps further…
The dial fair whizzes round when we turn on the water so, as some of this is escaping down the lane, we’re being vigilant. We’ve already paid for a fair few gallons of agua just running away. The water initially just ran out of the pool the first time we attempted to fill it, then the shower tray leaked & was replaced, but the plumber had knocked the pipework loose & we had to soak up water with large bath towels umpteen times per day & night until he returned to fix it. In hindsight, we should have turned-off the valve at the bottom of the lane…
Our polypropylene water pipe is buried in the track verge in some places, but above ground in others & we can see where it’s previously been fixed with connectors on either side of a newer piece of pipe. The plumber eventually arrived & fixed a leak, but was concerned that the dial continued to turn. Even after all the tanks at the house were filled, the meter was continually letting water through.
Then the brother showed us the valve under a metal plate on our drive near the house. We’d no idea it was there as the first rains had dumped mud into the hole hiding the pipework & he dug this out a little to show me. However, when we turned the water off here, the meter at the bottom of lane was still whirring so, as the water wasn’t going to the house, it was still leaking somewhere on the lane.
The brother then ‘fixed’ the problem by attaching a pipe to a different supply – his? I don’t really know, but now we have a pipe coming up & over the fence, across the orange trees, down the right side of the drive & then across it to connect near the valve in the newly dug out hole. He cut the original pipe which was nicely buried in the garden down the left of the drive & we have to watch our footing as the new pipe is fully exposed.
Only in Spain!
