Water safe to drink again in Axarquía village after 48-hour prohibition

Canillas de Aceituno town hall in Malaga province's Axarquía has lifted the tap water consumption restrictions announced on Monday 23 March.

Analyses carried out on Wednesday 25 March confirmed that the supply "meets the parameters established in current regulations for human consumption." This means that the municipal water supply can now be used normally for drinking, cooking and all other domestic purposes.

The town hall expressed its gratitude in a message posted on its social media channels for "the cooperation and understanding of residents during the period in which the restrictions were in effect."

The ban on tap water consumption in a large part of the municipality was announced on Monday after high levels of chlorate were detected in the water supply network, a problem that had already Iznate, El Borge, and Totalán. The issue has since been resolved in all three Axarquía municipalities.

The incident affected approximately 1,400 of the 1,800 residents in the village, while around 400 residents were able to continue consuming water normally by obtaining it from areas unaffected by the problem.

Technical sources consulted during these previous incidents in the Axarquía have explained that chlorates are not an external contaminant, but rather a byproduct of the chlorine disinfection process. Their concentration can increase due to factors such as prolonged water storage, the use of hypochlorite, or deficiencies in infrastructure maintenance.

The situation in Canillas de Aceituno once again highlights a structural problem in inland parts of the Axarquía in terms of guaranteeing water quality in small municipalities with aging infrastructure, within a context of increasingly stringent health regulations.