Health lifts the restrictions and declares the water suitable for consumption in Marchena

  • Hidralia will continue to maintain an exhaustive control of the quality of the water distributed in the city, guaranteeing the monitoring of the optimal levels for its consumption
  • The company will follow a specific surveillance plan to control any possible alteration of the parameters that may imply a breach of current regulations.

 

The Ministry of Health and Families of the Junta de Andalucía has declared the water distributed in the municipality of Marchena "suitable for consumption", after two days of restrictions on its use for drinking and cooking.

Health decreed on February 18 that the water distributed in the municipality of Marchena was not suitable for drinking or food preparation, once Hidralia, the company responsible for the water supply in the municipality of Marchena, detected and notified a exceeding the normative values ​​of a pesticide (MCPA) in distributed water.

The detection of this pesticide was possible, thanks to the fact that Hidralia maintains an exhaustive quality control of the drinking water distributed in the municipalities in which it manages the water cycle. Thus, the company carries out permanent analytical controls throughout the distribution system (networks and tanks) in compliance with the self-control protocol approved by Health and in accordance with current legislation. And, in addition to the analysis and quantification of the legally required parameters, in order to improve the guarantee and safety of people's health and the quality of drinking water, it incorporates into its analytical control plan, the determination of a series of additional parameters broadening the spectrum on pesticides and other elements beyond what is established in the regulations.

In this sense, it was possible to determine the presence of a pesticidal compound (MCPA) in amounts slightly higher (0.11 µg / l) than the legal limit (0.1 µg / l) on February 15, 2021.

Hidralia assures that it will continue to maintain an exhaustive control of the quality of the water distributed in the city, guaranteeing the monitoring of the optimal levels for its consumption. Thus, the company will follow a specific surveillance plan to quickly and efficiently control, detect and notify any possible alteration of the parameters that may lead to a breach of current regulations, as it has been doing so far.

During the days that the restrictions have lasted, Hidralia implemented all the necessary protocols for the resolution of the incident, ruling out that the detection of said compound had something to do with the water distribution process in the municipality. Therefore, and in order to ensure the health of citizens, the supplier company made itself available to the Écija Plan Consortium, responsible for the production and supply of high water to the town, to study the origin of the problem and collaborate in its resolution. Likewise, it has collaborated at all times with Health, taking the necessary samples from the network to monitor the evolution of the presence of said pesticide in the water, until the analytical results have complied with the regulations.

On the same day that the water was declared unfit, Hidralia made available to citizens the free distribution of drinking water, through tanker trucks placed in various parts of the city. Drinking water was also provided through complementary cisterns to the industries of the municipality and other sensitive areas or facilities such as health centers, residences ...

It should be remembered that the values ​​established in RD140 / 2003 are intended to establish the sanitary criteria that drinking water must meet, to guarantee the health, quality and cleanliness of the water in order to protect people's health from adverse effects. derived from any type of water pollution if the exposure to these compounds were made on a chronic and continuous basis, which has not occurred so far in this specific episode.

 

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