Cornered by his management of the crisis on the day of DANA, when he arrived late for the key meeting and his government doubted for two hours whether or not the massive alert would have been sent to cell phones which would have saved dozens of lives, Carlos Mazón was questioned. began to stir up false controversies to distract attention from the way he and his team acted. The first false controversy appeared this Sunday, about drinking water. This Monday is the unblocking of the trucks.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition (Miteco), led by Vice-President Teresa Ribera, yesterday estimated at 60 the number of municipalities affected by DANA in which – in the presence of possible pathogens – it is recommended to drink water. bottled water or boil tap water. In addition, according to Miteco data provided by supply companies, 7,000 homes remain without water, a figure which, at the start of the disaster, reached 600,000 families.
This Sunday, Mazón called the recommendation to boil water “erroneous.” The Valencian president decided to devote his time to discussing with Ribera, whom the PP has been trying for days to place in the media spotlight. With his questioning of Miteco, it seems that it is incompatible for Mazón to drink bottled water and, if it is not available, to boil tap water.
“Following the erroneous statements from Teresa Ribera’s ministry, we consider it important to clarify the following official recommendations regarding water use. Public Health recommends the use of bottled water for drinking and cooking in all municipalities affected by DANA. The water can be used for showering and washing. Free bottled water is available at refreshment points in each town. If you have any questions, consult the municipal authorities,” Mazón wrote in a tweet.
“There are no official recommendations for heating water,” Mazón insisted this Sunday to the media. The truth is that the central government itself, against which Mazón is attacking, also recommended on the same day – through its delegate to the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé – the use of bottled water for human consumption. This recommendation does not contradict or be incompatible – as is easily understood – with boiling tap water if necessary. The World Health Organization already recalled this in 2015, in your guide to drinking water qualitywhich is enough to boil the water for at least one minute “to inactivate pathogenic bacteria, viruses and protozoa”.
sewer trucks
The second false controversy stirred up by Mazón on social networks concerns the unblocking of sewer trucks. The president published the following tweet this Monday at 9:01 a.m.: “We have been asking the Spanish government for sewer unblocking trucks for 3 days to avoid serious public health problems. They don’t arrive. We have asked the CEOE and the rest of the Autonomous Communities to contribute with all the means at their disposal. Thank you all for your valuable help. »
The government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, responded personally this morning to Mazón’s tweet, which indicated that the request for sewage trucks was received on Friday at 11:26 a.m. and that at 11:42 a.m. all Autonomous Communities had been informed. “From there, the CCAAs who have availability respond. The first to respond was Castilla-La Mancha, which proposed 10. Currently there are 30,” Bernabé said. He also revealed that only today, at the Emergency Center – in Cecopi – did the Government of Mazón estimate the number of sewer trucks needed at 150. “I recommend that the president work on the most appropriate way to request [los medios]which, just with tweeting, is not the most effective.
“If the priority is the sewage trucks,” Bernabé said, “we will work in every possible way to get sewage trucks from anywhere, and at the same time we call on all people, entities, CCAA, private and public organizations that can bring sewage trucks to the province of Valencia, let them do so. And we will be alongside the Generalitat to be the spokesperson for its responsibility, which is to request these elements.
Bernabé also explained how the request for material aid is managed: “From the Spanish government we transmit it three times a day to emergency management. [autonómica] a complete list of everything they have from other autonomous communities and other countries. In addition to the sewage trucks, the central government sent the following water and sludge extraction equipment: 13 teams of heavy extraction equipment and 188 teams of light equipment, including 89 fire trucks and 99 motor pumps.
