The Public Health Centre has stated that the water supply that reaches the urban centres of Teulada and Moraira is “unfit for consumption” and cannot be used for drinking or cooking.
The supply in neighbouring Benitachell that shares a water consortium with Teulada, is still drinkable, but has an excess of sodium.
Teulada Moraira is the first town in the Marina Alta region to be hit hard by the water shortage and prolonged drought. The mayor, Raúl Llobell, has just issued a proclamation announcing serious restrictions, that the residents are suffering directly: they can no longer drink tap water.
The Public Health Centre has declared the water supplied in “the areas Teulada 1-Casco Urbano and other entities and Teulada 3-Armella Moraira” “unfit for consumption”. As a result, the water reaching homes in Teulada town centre and Moraira town cannot be consumed.
This municipality is the first in the Comunitat Valenciana to run out of drinking water due to the drought.
The ordinance clarifies that the supply must not be used for drinking, cooking or food preparation. It may be used for personal hygiene.
High demand for water The restrictions come just as August, the peak month of the tourist season, has begun. Occupancy and demand for water are at an all-time high. Until now, this municipality had avoided the water shortage (its aquifer had become saline) by buying water from the desalination plant in Javea.
The Compromís opposition in Teulada Moraira has demanded “more transparency and better management” from the mayor. The group has denounced the “insufficient and imprecise” communiqué, pointing out that the water supply affects people’s health. They also say that they are studying immediate measures to prevent this water crisis from being “paid for” out of the pockets of the residents, who are now forced to buy bottled water in supermarkets.
The supply is drinkable in Benitachell also belongs to the same water consortium as Teulada. Analyses have confirmed that the supply there is still drinkable, but an “excess of the element sodium derived from the intrusion of seawater” into the aquifer as a result of the drought has been detected. Tap water “is within the thresholds that determine whether the water is still drinkable, but with an excess of sodium, which limits its use for consumption by people who have a medical recommendation for a low sodium diet”, the council clarified.
Source: Levante-emv.com
