Dozens of villages in Spain struggle to access drinking water

Dozens of villages in Spain are struggling to access drinking water.

Today, July 30, it has been reported that dozens of villages in Spain are struggling for drinking water, something that should not be happening in the 21^st Century.

Not far from the city of Madrid, 76-year-old Francisca Benitez has to brush her teeth every night with bottled water because her village does not have a supply of drinking water.

In Lastras de Cuellar in the central Castilla y Leon region, nitrates and arsenic have made the water undrinkable. Dozens of other villages across the country are also struggling due to groundwater resources being at risk from agricultural pollution, lack of water quality controls and drought.

The residents walk to the main square in Lastras every Monday to buy multipacks of mineral water, sold at a discounted price, which some take home in wheelbarrows.

Alejandro Martin, 17, helps his 95-year-old grandfather bring home bottled water which is then poured into a pan so they can prepare coffee.

People hang their empty bottles from balconies and hang banners demanding access to drinking water.

“This is not normal in the 21st century!” protests Mercedes Rodriguez, 41, who is a member of a local residents association.

Mayor Andres Garcia also points to the “lack of (public) funding”.

Rodriguez worries that the lack of water could be the end of their village.

“A village that doesn’t have water is destined to disappear. Who is going to come and live in a village where they don’t have tap water?” she asks.

“Who is ever going to set up a business here?”

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