The Costa Blanca, on the coast of Alicante, is famous for its beaches and cliffs, its summer parties and its huge success with foreign tourists, especially from England, Germany and the Netherlands. But in the last few days it has become famous for something very different: the water flowing from its taps, which has attracted the attention of, among others, the Reuters agency and the CNN network. The reason? The long-term drought that has gripped the region has made the water in the canals in many municipalities too salty to drink.

Even municipalities distribute drinking water.

Unexpected fameTeulada-Moraira and Poble Nou de Benitatxell, both municipalities in the Marina Alta region of the northern province of Alicante, have, in spite of themselves, aroused unusual media attention. The reason: water.

Or rather, the salinity levels of the water that flows through your public pipes and through your taps. Both regions have been warning for months that the lack of rain in the past two years has left them in a “very serious situation” because of the high levels of salt in their supplies.

Salt water tapsIn mid-June, Benitatxell admitted that it had sodium and chloride levels that were “well above” what drinking water regulations consider acceptable. Around the same time, Teulada City Council, a few kilometres from Benitatxell, made a similar statement.

“Due to the lack of rainfall, the quality of drinking water has been affected”, he warned. Teulada accepted the processing values ​​​​that move in a sensitive area in this regard, given that the legislation sets 200 mg/l as the “indicator value” for sodium concentrations and 600 mg/l as the red line above which water is no longer considered drinkable. hairpin. “The first limit has been exceeded and the non-compliance limit has been exceeded” […] “As officials admit, this situation could soon be overcome.”

Aquifer slopes. Both regions attribute the problem to the same cause: two exercises that are particularly sparse in the rain. Reuters notes that last year the north of the province of Alicante received half its usual amount of rainfall and that so far this year it has been well below average. Beyond the lack of rain, these data pose a serious problem for resources, as Benitatxell Municipal Council warned in June.

“The underground water sources from which our wells draw water are being damaged by seawater intrusion because they are not being replenished with sufficient fresh water, causing the water coming from our taps to contain more salt.”

Ten times normalLocal authorities even overlooked a revealing figure: the salt content of the main well in Senija, which supplies water to homes and businesses, has risen rapidly: ten times higher than normal and far exceeding historical records.

On August 9, the Consostorio issued a statement announcing that sodium and chloride values ​​​​already exceeded acceptable levels. In Teulada (both towns share a water consortium), it was noted that seawater had infiltrated the aquifers at the beginning of summer, affecting salinity.

If the tap is not working… Bottled is better. Or supplied in tanks. Given the loss of quality in their supply, both municipal councils decided to take action and distribute drinking water among their neighbours and workplaces. In mid-August, Teulada accepted the consortium’s delegation to manage 67% of the 100,000 euros that will be allocated to water purchases.

Since then, it has installed tank-based supply points and activated a distribution system that allows residents to refill themselves after presenting their ID and receipt. Each subscriber is entitled to 20 litres of water per week from tanks at the distribution points or from three bottles. Just a few days ago, the City Council announced that businesses and hotels could be provided with up to 80 litres of drinking water per week. In Benitxell, for example, on Tuesday the 20th, a device was also deployed that allowed 12 pallets containing 1,500 6.5 litre jugs to be distributed in just three hours.

Another key: tourismIf the water problems in Marina Alta have caught the attention of Reuters or CNN, this is largely explained by another key: the tourist attraction of the Costa Blanca. In fact, the agency itself recalls that water consumption in the region has increased rapidly in the summer months: from 2.3 billion litres recorded in January to 19.7 billion litres in July.

This does not take into account the approximately 38,000 swimming pools that the National Institute of Statistics (INE) has identified in the region, which leaves a rate of one in every five people, well above the average for the whole of Spain: one in every 35 people. CNN explains that in the summer months, the municipality of Teulada-Moraira alone has five times the normal population (around 12,000 people).

Images | Tuscasasrurales (Flickr) and Cool Fella (Unsplash)

In Xataka | Alicante is suffering from an endemic drought. Some researchers want to solve the problem with floating solar panels