Residents in part of Malaga province have been told not to drink tap water or use it for cooking after excessive levels of chlorates were detected.
Comares Town Hall declared the public water supply in the hamlet of Los Ventorros unfit for human consumption, following an official notification from the Junta’s Territorial Health Delegation in Malaga.
Tests carried out as part of routine sanitary inspections detected chlorate concentrations above permitted limits in the reservoir and pipes supplying the Concas-Ventorros network.
As a result, the council has issued an official notice ordering residents not to drink water directly from the tap or use it to prepare food.
The restriction is expected to remain in place for at least three days, while further tests are carried out to determine whether levels have returned to acceptable limits.
Tap water can, however, continue to be used for personal hygiene and household cleaning.
Free bottled water for residents
Comares Town Hall has organised the free distribution of bottled water to affected residents for the duration of the restrictions.
Bottles will be handed out at the Los Ventorros bus stop between 9.30am and 10.30am each morning.
People unable to collect water during that period will also be able to pick up bottles during the afternoon from supermarkets and other shops in the area.
The council has urged residents to comply with the restrictions until authorities confirm that the water is once again safe to consume.
Latest water problem to hit the Axarquia
The alert is the latest in a series of water supply problems affecting communities across Malaga’s Axarquia region.
Just days ago, Alcaucin suffered a major failure in its main water pipe which cut supplies to more than a dozen scattered rural communities, including Zarate, Venta Alta and El Toril.
That incident came around two months after residents in the municipality faced another drinking-water restriction following the detection of heavy metal contamination in late May.
Other Axarquia municipalities, including Totalan, Iznate and El Borge, have also experienced preventative restrictions linked to excessive chlorate levels.
The latest incident comes amid heightened sanitary monitoring of drinking water supplies and continued concerns over the condition and vulnerability of local water infrastructure.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
