We said next week for Part 2 of the household redundancy series. Then the storms hit. Subscribers wrote in about leaks, outages, and spotty internet during the worst of it. So we moved this up.

Wednesday covered power. Today: water and internet. The two things you probably haven't stress-tested.

The Costa's reservoirs are in decent shape right now. La Concepción, the main reservoir serving western Costa del Sol, sat at roughly 80% capacity heading into 2026. The recent rains are certainly helping. The restrictions from 2022-2023, when garden hosing and car washing became code-switching exercises, are mostly lifted.

Current limits are 250 litres per person per day on the western Costa, 225 in Málaga city. That sounds generous, and it is, for now. Most households use well under that.

The structural problem is the swing. In winter, the Costa serves its resident population. In July and August, tourism roughly doubles water demand. A couple of dry winters, and the restrictions return. This isn't speculation. It's a cycle the Costa has been through three times since 2005.

Three desalination projects are underway, which tells you the authorities know rainfall alone won't cut it:

The Marbella plant, originally built in 1997, is getting a €7 million upgrade. Estepona is building an "express" containerised, solar-powered plant that will produce 20,000 cubic metres per day. La Axarquía, the eastern Costa, has a planned plant with a capacity of 25 cubic hectometres per year.

These will help. They won't be finished simultaneously, and desalinated water costs more to produce than reservoir water. Your water bill will eventually reflect that.

A depósito de agua — water storage tank — costs €500 to €2,000 for 7,000 to 10,000 litres, depending on size and installation. Underground is better. Above-ground tanks in the Costa del Sol summer heat breed bacteria and degrade plastic.

The maths: 7,000 litres supports two people for roughly five weeks of normal use. Not luxury use. Normal showers, cooking, and cleaning.

Where to buy: Leroy Merlin in Málaga or Marbella carries smaller tanks (1,000 to 5,000 litres). For larger or underground installations, Tankeros (tankeros.com) specialises in residential water storage across southern Spain. Get a plumber to connect it to your mains with a float valve so it refills automatically.

This isn't apocalypse planning. It's the same logic as the solar battery from Wednesday. A buffer between you and a system that occasionally stutters.

Most households on the Costa run a single fibre line. Movistar, Vodafone, Orange, whoever. When it works, it's excellent. Spain's fibre coverage is among the best in Europe.

When it doesn't work, you have nothing. One cable cut, one exchange problem, one provider outage, and your working day is over.

The fix is simple and surprisingly cheap: run two connections from different carriers.

Movistar fibre: approximately €40 per month. Vodafone 5G fixed wireless: approximately €35 per month. Total: €75 per month for genuine redundancy.

Why different carriers matter: Movistar and Vodafone use different physical infrastructure. Different exchanges, different routing, different last-mile connections. When Movistar has an outage in your area, Vodafone usually doesn't, and vice versa.

Two Movistar lines would share the same point of failure. Two different carriers won't.

If €75 per month feels steep, the minimum viable backup is a mobile data plan on a different carrier from your fibre. Vodafone offers a 300GB prepaid SIM for €20 per 28-day period, with no contract. Tether your phone or drop a SIM into a portable router. It won't match fibre speeds, but it will get you through a video call and keep email flowing.

For rural properties, campo houses, or anyone who wants a backup that doesn't depend on Spanish telecoms infrastructure at all: Starlink. €249 for the hardware, €40 to €70 per month depending on the plan. It connects via satellite, so local outages are irrelevant.

For most urban and suburban Costa residents, Starlink is overkill. But if you live in the hills above Casares or in the Axarquía, where fibre doesn't always reach reliably, it's worth the conversation.

5G fixed wireless is now available in Málaga, Marbella, and Estepona from Movistar, Vodafone, and Orange. If your building doesn't have fibre, or you want an alternative that doesn't involve cables, this is the middle ground.

When calling your internet provider:

"Se ha caído la conexión. ¿Hay una incidencia en mi zona?" — The connection is down. Is there an outage in my area?

At the hardware store:

"Necesito un depósito de agua de siete mil litros para enterrar" — I need a 7,000-litre water tank, for burying underground

Between these two pieces, you have a complete household resilience plan.

Solar panels and a battery for power. A water tank for supply interruptions. Two internet connections from different carriers for connectivity.

None of this is expensive relative to a lost work day or a week of cold showers. The Costa is one of the best places in Europe to live and work remotely. The infrastructure mostly agrees. "Mostly" is the gap these two pieces help you close.

Enjoy the weekend — A. and the dual-SIM, full tank, solar topped up WaypointSur team