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Several municipalities around the Mar Menor are entering their fifth day without safe drinking water following the devastating DANA Alice floods, which have significantly disrupted the lives of around 100,000 residents and the operations of hundreds of businesses of all types and sizes.

 

Los Alcázares has now formally requested that the Mancomunidad de los Canales del Taibilla (MCT) compensate residents and businesses for damages caused by the water outage. Mayor Mario Pérez Cervera sent an official letter on Thursday October 16 to the Taibilla Canals Association demanding the creation of a compensation fund, as well as reimbursement of the extraordinary expenses incurred by the council to guarantee emergency water supplies.

 

In the letter sent by the Mayor's Office, Los Alcázares Council details that the MCT provided barely ten minutes' notice of the outage, which prevented the adoption of preventive measures and the timely organisation of the municipal response.

 

The council's request calls on the MCT to take three specific actions: the creation of an extraordinary compensation fund financed by the MCT to provide rebates or compensation to residents and businesses that have suffered damages, the approval of a communication and coordination protocol with the municipalities surrounding the Mar Menor and financial compensation to the council for the extraordinary expenses incurred during the emergency, such as the purchase and distribution of bottled water, the hiring of tankers and the reinforcement of staff, amongst other costs.

 

"We're not asking for privileges, we're asking for justice and respect for our people. The residents and business owners of Los Alcázares should not have to pay the consequences," Mario Pérez Cervera emphasised, adding that "Los Alcázares has always been a responsible municipality, but also demanding when it comes to defending the rights of our residents."

 

On Wednesday, the MCT issued a statement indicating that it had completed "the critical phase of cleaning" of the main distribution channel in Campo de Cartagena, in El Mirador (San Javier), and that it was beginning to "distribute clean water to the municipal networks of San Javier, San Pedro, and Los Alcázares." However, the water remains "unfit for human consumption" (drinking, cooking, and showering). The statement also said the organisation is working "in coordination with representatives of the affected municipalities and their local distribution managers," and with "the health authorities," to "restore normal service as soon as possible."

 

It is hoped that Taibilla will manage to restore safe drinking water supplies at some stage over the coming weekend.

 

 

Image: Ayuntamiento de Los Alcázares