The Andalusian Government on Tuesday considered it “correct and responsible” that the city councils of capitals such as Seville and malaga propose a “punctual” increase in the price of water to deal with the serious drought.
In the press conference after the meeting of the Government Council, the Minister of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy and spokesperson of the Executive, Ramon Fernandez-Pacheco thus referring to the fact that the Council of the City of Seville has put on the table a 30 percent increase in water rates in the next two years, and that the malaga suggest the addition of 42 percent.
For the advisor, you need to create a call to responsibility and be aware of the current reality of our water reserves and that the global reservoirs Andalusia is already below the “psychological barrier” of 20 percent of its capacity, so if it doesn’t rain in the coming months, the situation will be complicated, especially in the big urban centers.
In this sense, he considered it an “exercise of responsibility” that the mayors began to work on the adoption of measures and encouraging responsible consumption and provided with the necessary means to create the infrastructures that are their responsibility.
“If the city councils understand that a certain price increase will help responsible consumption and provide resources to maintain the infrastructure, I say accurate and responsible“, explained the counselor.
Also, he wanted to make it clear that, since it is the responsibility of the city councils to decide on possible water restrictions within their cities, the Board will help and support them because we are not “facing a small issue.” In his opinion, it is important that the lack of rain and water resources be part of the priority agenda of all public officials, at the municipal, regional and national levels.
Regarding the Board’s decision to suspend the water canon In the current exercise, he recalled that it is always considered a temporary measure and that its recovery will be studied with a view to the community budget for 2024.
The decision to suspend it in 2023, as stated, is due to the need to relieve the fiscal pressure on Andalusian families in the face of rising prices and because the previous PSOE-A regional governments “did not implement a water cannon euro”. He wanted to explain that, without water fees, the Board invested “more than any previous year, in terms of hydraulic infrastructure.”
