Martorell will fine anyone who fills jugs from public fountains up to 700 euros.

MartorellThe Martorell City Council will approve this Monday a ban on filling containers with water from the municipality's public fountains to prevent residents without access to piped water at home from collecting it for domestic use. The measure is included in the coexistence ordinance that the full council will modify with the votes of the governing parties, Junts and the PSC. Specifically, the use of the fountains to "accumulate water, using containers, bottles, or any type of utensil that allows its storage" is expressly prohibited. In case of non-compliance, fines of up to 700 euros are contemplated. The organizations PAH and Papers para Tothom have distributed posters throughout this town in the Baix Llobregat region against the dry fountains, considering it a "classist" measure that harms people in vulnerable situations.

This is not the first time that the mayor of Martorell, Xavier Fonollosa (Together), has taken action against squatters. In fact, he is one of the Catalan mayors who have publicly admitted their involvement. refusal to comply with the municipal obligation to register All residents, and has indicated that only if a judge orders it will it agree to register neighbors who do not have a rental contract.

For the Baix Llobregat Nord PAH (Platform of People Affected by Mortgages), cutting off the water to the fountains is part of a "declared war against the poor, squatters, and the most vulnerable," and they accuse Fonollosa of "using" the Local Police to "intimidate families" living in homes without a contract.

For its part, ECAS (Catalan Social Action Entities) calls the municipal decision a "ridiculous and out-of-place measure" because it punishes people who, out of necessity, must go to the fountains to get water for cooking, drinking, or washing, while the focus is not placed "on either the waste" or the waste of public bills, points out Lluís Puigdemont, a member of the entity's working group for the right to housing. "Their true colors are showing," he emphasizes, arguing that the two-party government in Martorella is copying the policies of far-right forces.

Furthermore, the Martorella initiative is a repeat of the one undertaken by the city council of Salt a decade ago, when he shut down all the fountains in the municipality arguing that misuse caused significant expense and posed a risk to public health. On that occasion, the ombudsman accepted the justifications of the City Council, then controlled by CiU, in contrast to social organizations and the opposition party Independents per Salt, who considered the water cut-off an injustice to the poorest residents.