TAP WATER QUALITY BENITACHELL, MORAIRA & TEULADA vs. THE 2025 DESALINATION PLANT PROJECT MIRAGE: A Lesson in Transparency
© written by Lorraine-Hugo Fowler. Views expressed in this article belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of OVFC board.
Those tracking my posts with updates from SINAC over the last 2+ years will be aware that the next few weeks are going to be the toughest and Sodio levels remain above the alert parameters per samples of 23/7 in spite of the limited, expensive, emergency supply of desalinated water from Javea.
I am sure that of course the network is being managed to hold levels under the threshold for being fit for human consumption. That doesn't, in my opinion, excuse the failures to address the issues involved with consistently high levels, regularly over alert parameters, for well over 2 years.
We were told that funding for the desalination plant extension to be completed in 2025 was redirected to Dana victims... what hasn't been made transparent is why.
In April 2024, the Teulada-Benitatxell Water Consortium publicly celebrated that the €1.57M expansion contract for the Castellons Desalination Plant was signed, funded, and guaranteed to be operational by 2025 to secure our water quality.
Official public procurement records paint a completely different administrative reality.
According to Cláusula 21.8 of Contract File 112/2023, the Consortium did not actually have the mandatory hydrological approvals or environmental clearances from the Júcar Hydrological Confederation (CHJ) when they signed the contract with the contractor. Instead, Cláusula 21.8 legally transferred the entire burden of obtaining the permits onto the contractor after the project contract was signed. Because Cláusula Séptima states the 9-month construction timeline can't legally begin without the permits, the project was stalled from day one. Dead in the water
Why was a 2025 completion date explicitly publicised to local press and residents when the permits from the Hidrográfica Confederación Jucar to start the work were missing?
Or maybe I'm wrong. But I can't see any contractor initiating the paperwork to apply for permissions before getting the contract. Then of course the question arises with regard to why a contractor would enter into such a contract in the first place? And what are the terms if, in the end, the permits aren't forthcoming, or are and the project costs have rocketed in the meantime? Those are questions I can't answer and there is little point even raising them...
To cut through the "economy of information and transparency" and establish some bare facts, I have just filed a formal, legal, Transparency Request under Ley 19/2013 de Transparencia directly through the Sede Electrónica of the Consorcio de Aguas Teulada-Moraira and Benitachell (the board comprised of the Teulada and Benitachell mayors and town counsellors (50/50): Official Registry Number: 2026-E-RE-158
This legally obligates the Consortium to provide technical logs, dates permit requests were registered, and the internal reports regarding why infrastructure funds are being redirected.
While recent publicity by the Ayuntamiento Benitachell focuses on installing 990 devices to remotely read domestic meters in Cumbre (120,000€)—which as far as I can make out only monitors private consumption of individual properties—they do absolutely nothing to fix the massive 40% water loss bleeding out of the public infrastructure. Our water quality is an issue of public health, not public relations and politics. I await the official response within the stated 30 day legal parameter.
All data cited is verified public record
© Lorraine-Hugo Fowler. All rights reserved.
The article written by Lorraine is very well researched and well worth reading. It’s lovely to have a neighbour like her in our municipality. Congratulations!.
ReplyDeleteI’d like to add the following:
Last summer, the Teulada-Benitatxell Water Consortium paid 2,57€ per cubic metre. Now they are paying 4,14€. Amjasa, Xàbia’s municipal water supply company, has been supplying 1.500 cubic metres every day since July. In other words, they are paying 6.210€ every day, which amounts to 186.300€ a month.
The 2024 preliminary agreement between the Teulada-Benitatxell Water Consortium and Amjasa set out a commitment to purchase 30.000 cubic metres per month throughout the year at a price of 0,70€ per cubic metre, i.e. 21.000€ per month. The preliminary agreement was never signed, and the reasons for this have never been made public.
In short, we could have paid 21.000€ a month instead of 186. 300€.
One must mention the high percentage of leaks in the drinking water supply network, which the audit puts at 40%. Of particular concern is the situation regarding the constant burst pipes in Cumbre del Sol. The situation in Magnolias and Pueblo de la Luz and in other areas is untenable.
We must speak out against the council’s inaction:
1. How is it possible that some residents have reported burst pipes eight times, yet a year later water is still leaking?
2. How is it possible that a burst pipe is repaired, only for another one to burst a few days later just a short distance away from the first?
3. How is it possible that we have been in this situation for years and yet the entire affected water supply network has not been replaced?
4. Why aren’t the results of the laboratory tests made public?
5. Why can’t a long-term water supply agreement be reached with the Xàbia desalination plant?
There are far too many unanswered questions.