Alex Trelinski
THE mass distribution of bottled water eventually started on Friday in a Costa Blanca municipality where drinking tap water was banned a week earlier due to excess salt levels.
The drought caused the presence of a higher level of seawater in domestic supplies in Benitatxell.
On Friday morning, the local council began handing out 6.5 litre bottles of La Serreta- water from a spring in the Font de Figuera.
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The La Seretta company was chosen because it offered the quickest delivery and the lowest price of just 43 cents per bottle.
Nine pallets containing 1,080 bottles were distributed in under two hours.
Dolores, a resident at the pick-up point, said: “The help is appreciated because you can’t even brush your teeth with the tap water any more because it is so salty.”
“You have to rinse with bottled water and if you take a shower, then your skin is sticky.”
Businesses have also been affected with a coffee shop owner saying they’ve had to switch to using bottled water, which is more expensive.
Benitatxell mayor, Miguel Angel García, said that drinking water tanks will be installed at four points where people will be able to fill up their bottles.
Commenting on the Friday bottle handouts, the mayor said that he believed his council had acted in ‘record time’ despite the tap water ban coming into force on August 9.
Neighbouring Teulada-Moraira introduced similar water restrictions on August 2.
A meeting on Wednesday decided to work out locations where tanks can be placed- some 12 days after the local ban started.
The Teulada soccer field car park and Moraira sports centre have been picked and both will have two tanks each with a capacity of a thousand litres.
