Black. This is the color of the water that comes out of the tap in the homes of Lora del Río, in Seville, almost two weeks after the Territorial Health Delegation issued an alert considering it not suitable for human consumption. Since then, the city council has distributed around 33,000 liters of bottled water among its citizens, has arranged three tanker trucks of 25 cubic meters each and five fixed tanks distributed throughout the municipality, with more than 18,000 inhabitants.
The liquid exceeds the levels of manganese recommended for consumption, a situation with an even more complicated solution taking into account this time of extreme drought. Lora del Río is supplied by the José Torán Reservoir, which is at 15% of its capacity, so the sediments contaminate the water, causing this health alert.
Added to this panorama is that the water treatment plant is so old that it does not have the capacity to treat the water that is demanded and that there are about 30 kilometers of fiber cement pipes and functions that further aggravate the problem.
The municipal government of Antonio Enamorado (PP) is preparing a battery of investments in the municipality that will be around 200,000 euros. With these funds, the city council will make improvements to the Water Treatment Station (ETAP). In the supply network, 30 kilometers of fiber cement and functional pipes have to be replaced with PVC ones, an action worth several million euros.
The problem of turbidity and high levels of manganese derive, among other factors, from the levels of dammed water in the José Torán Reservoir, which, at the moment, is around 15% of its capacity, which makes the water that is extracted arrives with more mud than advisable.
The City Council is working on improvements to the ETAP and its supply network, which it estimates will cost more than 200,000 euros. In the case of the Treatment Station, five of the filters that decant the water that comes from the José Torán Reservoir have recently been fixed. To these five filters, three more will be added, in which the municipal government foresees an investment that will be around 40,000 euros.
