Drinking water quality controls in Spain are insufficient

Drinking water quality controls are inadequate because they do not analyse the widely used pesticides.

• Ecologists in Action presents a report on the analyses of pesticides in drinking water carried out by administrations in 2021.
• The organisation claims that official analyses look for historical pesticides that are no longer used, instead of measuring those that are widely used in the fields.
• In addition, controls are not carried out in many municipalities, which remain without information on the presence of pesticides in their water.

Ecologists in Action presents the report 'Pesticides in drinking water', which analyses the control of pesticides in drinking water carried out in 2021 by the administrations responsible for supply.

The first aspect that the environmental organisation highlights is that the administrations do not analyse the agricultural pesticides that are actually used, which are those that can contaminate the supply areas through diffuse contamination. Instead, they focus on studying the possible presence of unauthorised historical pesticides that are no longer used.

Furthermore, a large number of Spanish populations lack analyses to detect pesticides in their drinking water, and therefore have no information on the presence of these toxins.

The information being provided by the responsible authorities, led by the Ministry of Health, is not complete, as it does not cover all populations, nor is it representative of the real situation, as it ignores the pesticides that are actually used in the supply area.

The report also reviews the case of contamination with agricultural herbicides in Les Garrigues, in the summer of 2022, where they were unable to obtain water for two months.

Ecologists in Action reminds the administrations that they must carry out a more rigorous control of pesticides in drinking water to ensure, as required by law, that “the water intended for the production of water for human consumption does not pose a risk to the health of the population supplied”. To do this, they must know and analyse which pesticides are used in their territorial area and carry out measures to reduce diffuse pollution if there is any, all without excluding any municipality.