The residents of Darnius (Alt Empordà) have not been able to consume tap water since September after detecting higher than permitted levels of trihalomethanes.
The City Council attributes the situation to the extreme drought and also to the collection system, which is “old” and has difficulties filtering impurities.
The mayor, Josep Madern, hopes that the situation will be resolved with the installation at the end of the month of a water treatment plant to treat the water from the Arnera River – from which they are currently supplied – and that, in the future, it will also manage the water that comes out of the new intake that will be made in the reservoir dam.
The problems with the water began last summer with several leaks in the middle of a heat episode, but they were accentuated in September when, through one party, the City Council reported that the analysis in the new tank had detected a “non-compliance” of trihalomethanes and that the results obtained qualified the water as ‘not suitable for human consumption’.
On the other hand, neighbors were informed that they could continue using it to shower, wash clothes, kitchen utensils, water plants and other uses “without risk to health.” The situation continued and in mid-October a new order was issued in which new analyzes confirmed non-compliance.
In April, a third statement was issued informing that the situation remained and that, therefore, the population was reminded not to use tap water “for consumption or food preparation, as has been done.” until now, since the previous incident was never closed.”
In the last statement this week, the City Council made public that the latest analyzes had once again detected higher levels of trihalomethanes than permitted. However, they pointed out that, as a result of the actions they had carried out to improve the quality of the network, between the months of January and April the values were reduced and were below the permitted parameters.
Among them, chlorine controls were increased and the contact time of this product with water was reduced. The accumulated volume of water was also reduced from 630 cubic meters to 400. This, Madern explains, has given good results for a few months, but it has not been enough to lift the restrictions.