Roses tap water is contaminated: why should it be boiled before drinking?

BarcelonaThe residents of Roses have gone 24 hours without using their tap water normally. If they want to drink it or use it to prepare food, they must first boil it. This is what the City Council has recommended after detecting a large amount of organic matter. The council emphasizes that the contamination detected does not pose an immediate "danger" to people's health, but asks that the instructions provided by the Department of Health be followed as a precaution. The situation, however, could last a few weeks.

"The City Council reports that, although not continuously, it has been detected that one of the parameters evaluated in the drinking water distributed in the municipality has occasionally exceeded the established limit value," reads the note issued by the City Council on Wednesday morning. The text specified that this parameter, called THM (trihalomethanes), is "within the guideline values" set by the World Health Organization (WHO) but outside those set at the national level, which are more restrictive. This byproduct can appear as the reaction of the chlorine used for disinfection with the natural organic matter present in the collected water, but sources from the Public Health Agency of Catalonia in Girona explain that for it to be harmful to health, prolonged exposure is necessary.

In statements to ARA, the Councilor for Infrastructure, Public Services, Environment and Mobility of the Roses City Council, Lluís Espada, explains that the problem is that, as a result of the drought and spring rains, "water with a lot of organic matter is coming down" from the Darnius reservoir. This requires "rebalancing the treatment" of the water, adds Espada, who admits that this process could take three weeks.

Until then, and as the City Council has informed residents, the Department of Health has issued a series of recommendations, including boiling water for one minute or storing it in an open jug for 24 hours before drinking it to eliminate harmful compounds. "Heating water also reduces exposure to these compounds, but, depending on the temperature, it takes longer," specifies the council, which also advises reducing shower and bath time in poorly ventilated spaces and ensuring proper ventilation of sinks and kitchens.

Bottled water is out of stock: "People are very alarmist"

Nevertheless, the news caused a few minutes of confusion among residents and led to many supermarkets in the town running out of bottled water: "Yesterday we sold out, and this morning they're gone again in just fifteen minutes," Imma Bueno, who works, explained in a telephone conversation with ARA. "People are very alarmist; it feels like World War III is coming," she continued. She explained that she no longer drank tap water and that, at all costs, she believes this is a temporary issue. Until then, "the supermarkets will increase their orders and the problem will end," she concluded.

Espada specifically asks that this anomalous situation in the municipality not raise alarm. "If the problem were a health hazard, we would have already cut off the supply," insists the JuntsxRoses councilor. He asserts, in this regard, that the WHO sets the danger threshold above what has been detected in Roses, provided that exposure is continuous for years.

The City Council highlights that, in coordination with Salut, Agbar and the The Costa Brava Consortium is conducting "exhaustive monitoring of the state and evolution of the water, with two weekly analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment changes." It adds that, in parallel, the Empuriabrava water treatment plant is "implementing important actions that will help alleviate the problem." From Catalonia to Girona, there is currently no other municipality in the region affected by this incident.