Morcillo (AEAS): “Water is the product of human intake that has more controls”

After several years in which the urban water cycle service companies have seen how public investment fell year after year, the aim of the Spanish Association of Water Supply and Sanitation (AEAS) is to improve service efficiency. Fernando Morcillo, president of the association, also talks about water quality and the report published by the Barcelona Institute of Global Health, which related bladder cancer to the level of trihalomethanes in the water.

Recently, a report has been published that questions the quality of water in Spain due to the presence of trihalomethanes, are the established limits being exceeded?

AEAS, as the majority Spanish association in the representation of water service operators in Spain (public, private or mixed), published a response to that report: in the case of trihalomethanes, the European Directive, transposed by RD 140 / 2003 to national legislation, sets a limit of 100 µg / l (micrograms per liter). For a water suitable for human consumption, the values ​​obtained in the analytical network are always below this value, and in recent years they have been optimized with the application of Water Safety Plans and with the improvement of treatments of existing water treatment. According to the last document available at Sinac (year 2018), the average value obtained at the national level was 27.35 µg / l (almost four times lower than the parametric referenced), over 48,286 controls carried out annually.

Specifically, what controls are performed?

Water “suitable for human consumption”, as the European Union calls the water that we commonly call drinking, is undoubtedly the product of food intake that has more quality controls and with greater cadence and routine. Any citizen can find the official controls that are carried out on the quality of the water in our country in each zone of supply in the National System of Information of Water of Consumption.

What is your assessment of the publication of these types of studies?

There is no doubt that scientific studies are necessary to evolve water quality and technological capabilities to achieve it. In fact, without scientific studies we would not know that trihalomethanes should be controlled, nor what the recommended limit value should be. Another issue is that an alarming headline is used. Research organizations must maintain an ethic, which we can say was traditional, regarding public disclosure. Scientific conjectures, until they are fully demonstrated, should remain in that area of ​​knowledge and deepening. And they must, therefore, justifiably present the result with the forceful rigor, seriousness and support so that they can really be collected by the regulatory authority, in this case the European Commission itself.

“From the point of view of governance, the Dsear plan and the Green Paper are pending”

Changing the subject, the year has just begun and we have a new government, what plans does AEAS have for this 2020?

It will be a continuation of what has been done in recent years, which from the sector and associative point of view we have expectations that some of the elements that are supposed to improve, we can reach those levels of improvement .

What elements?

On the one hand, there is the technological part, which corresponds to us as a sector, it is very filmed and it is moving forward. The technological elements are there, we form an important part of the innovation in the world, our companies are well known for their experience, and it is still the daily tran-tran. From the point of view of the governance that we are requesting from the ministries, because it is not only the environment that corresponds, the Dsear plan and the Green Paper are pending.

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